Cathay: Cargo rush spilled into new year

Cathay: Cargo rush spilled into new year    Cathay Pacific cargo officials said the cargo demand spike in Asia between Thanksgiving and Christmas actually extended through New Year's Day.
   'The market was also stronger than expected over the Christmas and New Year period,' said James Woodrow, general manager of cargo, mainland China and Hong Kong, in the company's employee magazine, CX World, in January. 'We canceled flights both to Europe and transpacific — as did our competitors — which helped to buoy rates and loads.'
   James says the expectation is that the second half of January and first half of February will be strong in the build-up to Chinese New Year, though 'cautious optimism' is still the theme.
   'The first quarter of 2010 will be significantly better than last year — however that is a very low benchmark which we hope never to repeat,' he said.
   Another cargo executive with Cathay said in the magazine that the airline intends to build strength in its current air freight network before adding new routes. In a Q&A section, a Cathay employee wondered why the airline hadn't added cargo capacity to growing markets like Russia, Eastern Europe and South America. The airline did add cargo sectors to Houston, Miami, Jakarta and Ho Chi Minh City in 2009.
   'While there has been a seasonal uptick in cargo demand we are not out of the woods yet,' said Rossana Lau, general manager of cargo planning for Cathay. 'The focus remains on strengthening current services before we look to add more freighter destinations.'
   Also Tuesday, Cathay said its December cargo volume rose 25 percent in December compared to the same month in 2008. The airline, and sister airline Dragonair, carried 144,000 tons of cargo during the month. Load factor rose 15.7 percent to 78.6 percent, while capacity for the month was down 3.3 percent.
   For 2009 as a whole, tonnage fell 7.1 percent against a capacity reduction of 13.1 percent.
   'Demand was very strong in December, with the backlog of freight in the key Hong Kong and Shanghai markets helping to stretch out the peak,' said Titus Diu, Cathay Pacific general manager cargo sales and marketing. 'December's load factor was the highest of the year, in part due to the capacity reduction, which helped to push up yield. It was pleasing to see the year end strongly and we expect to see demand remain fairly robust in the buildup to Chinese New Year.'