Air cargo had its “best peak season in years” and is shaping up to be one of the better ones in a long time, according to WorldACD.

In its report for November, the data market analyst says the USD-yield has gone up with a much larger percentage than in previous years, while the month showed an acceleration in year-over-year (YOY) volume growth for the fourth month in a row.

WorldACD says worldwide, the USD-yield improved in November by 3.9 per cent over the previous month, while volume increasing by 6.9 per cent YOY, explaining: “Deviating from the trend in earlier months, the YOY growth in direct ton kilometers (DTK’s) was only slightly higher this time (7.1 per cent), indicating a smaller shift towards longer haul traffic than in previous months.”

One of the influencing factors the market analyst says was the boom in the relative short-haul intra-Asia traffic in November (+15 per cent YOY), while exports from China and Hong Kong played a major role in the positive end-of-year developments. In the main markets from Asia Pacific, between August and November the USD-yield to North America rose by 25 per cent, and to Europe by 30 per cent.

WorldACD says air cargo has not seen such seasonal yield improvements since 2009 with volume increases since the summer were “spectacular” in markets from Hong Kong (+30 per cent) and Shanghai (+17 per cent), also higher than in previous years.

It adds that the revenue growth was “realised from a low basis”, but this year’s peak season can be called “a success” although growth was concentrated in Asia Pacific, typical ‘perishables exporters’ Egypt, USA Pacific, Chile and Colombia will also subscribe to this view, as their volume increase for perishables in the period October/November ranged between 16 per cent (Chile) and 34 per cent (Egypt) YOY.