Air cargo tonnages and rates from key Middle East and Asian origin markets remain highly elevated, especially to Europe, as strong demand and disruptions to ocean freight services meet limited capacity on key lanes, pushing up rates dramatically on several major intercontinental routes.

According to the latest weekly figures and analysis from WorldACD Market Data, worldwide tonnages have rebounded by a further +2% in week 20 following a similar increase the previous week, after dropping by around -8% at the start of May around the Labour Day holidays.

Meanwhile, average global rates remain more or less stable, rising just two cents to US$2.48 per kilo in week 20 (13 to 19 May) – which is up, year-on-year (YoY), by around +2% and significantly above pre-Covid levels (+40% compared to May 2019). Tonnages, YoY, are up by +9% globally, although that figure is inflated by strong demand from Asia Pacific (+15%) and Middle East & South Asia (+16%) origins.

On a week-on-week (WoW), and two-week-on-two-week (2Wo2W) basis, average global and regional rates are relatively stable. But compared with last year, average rates from Middle East & South Asia (MESA) are highly elevated (+45%). And to destinations in Europe, average rates from MESA origins remain more than double (+119%) their level this time last year, as they have for the last seven weeks, based on the more than 450,000 weekly transactions covered by WorldACD’s data.

New analysis this week by WorldACD indicates that tonnages from MESA to Europe in the last two weeks are up, YoY, by +31%, with Dubai the top of the list in terms of origin growth points (+148%). Those Dubai tonnages to Europe continue to be inflated by strong sea-air cargo due to the disruptions to container shipping in the Red Sea. But tonnages from Sri Lanka (+57%) and Bangladesh (+28%) are also significantly up, YoY, for the last two weeks combined.