Cargo operations yet to revive after floods hit Dubai Airport

The United Arab Emirates witnessed flash floods caused by the heaviest rainfall on record on Monday (April 15, 2024) and has brought operations at Dubai International Airport to a standstill including the cargo movement. Even after four days since the disruption, the cargo operations are yet to get back on track.

“Backlogged cargo at DXB and DWC is being processed, and there may be delays to shipments,” Emirates SkyCargo wrote in its service alerts on Thursday. The cargo division of the airline also informed that they have implemented specific instructions for the carriage of special products.

According to Flightradar, 900 diversions and cancellations were reported at the airport since Monday. While aircraft were diverted to other airports including Dubai World Central - Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC), the Indian airline IndiGo reported that "Given the on-ground situation and a high number of diversions to DWC, the airport operator and our ground partners had limited manpower."

The ground handling company dnata informed The STAT Trade Times that they are working with partners to mitigate the impact. dnata spokesperson said, “We are collaborating closely with our partners and authorities to mitigate any impact of the inclement weather and subsequent flight disruptions and adverse road conditions on our cargo operations in Dubai. Our teams are working diligently to process every cargo shipment as quickly as possible, keeping our valued customers updated.”

Meanwhile, Dubai Airports on Friday informed that at Dubai International (DXB) is temporarily limiting the number of inbound flights from 12:00 PM, 19 April for 48 hours. “Departures will continue to operate,” it reads.

On the passenger side, Emirates has suspended check-in for all customers in its network with onward connections through Dubai until 23:59hrs GMT, 19 April (03:59hrs Dubai time, 20 April).

“This is to support operations recovery from the recent bad weather at our Dubai hub,” the communication on X reads.

The new developments added to the woes of the global supply chain as Dubai recently recorded an increased flow of cargo due to disruptions in Red Sea, even though there was a dip due to Eid.

In 2023, DXB handled 1,805,898 tonnes of cargo, a slight decrease of 4.5 percent compared to the previous year. Cargo volumes registered a growth of 20.4 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter to reach 506,018 tonnes.

According to WorldACD Market Data, in the first week of April (week 14) certain key hub airports in the Middle East and Asia have seen particularly strong demand this year due to the disruptions to container shipping in the Red Sea, particularly those commonly used as Asia-Europe sea-air hubs or road-air hubs, including Dubai, Colombo and Bangkok.

“Dubai-Europe tonnages were massively elevated (+114%) in week 14 compared with the same week last year, with tonnages in week 14 very close to their peak levels recorded in week 8,” it reads.

In the second week of April, “Despite a 21 percent WoW drop, Dubai-Europe tonnages remained at more than twice their level this time last year, up by 153 percent, in the week prior to flooding there, impacting the emirate’s air operations,” reported WorldACD.