Page 20 - STAT November 2022 for Magzter

specialreport

THE TRANSATLANTIC PASSAGEWAY

FALLING BELOW

EXPECTATIONS?

Freight movements in the Transatlantic have witnessed much turbulence over the
last couple of years. The STAT Trade Times decided to deconstruct what this means for
the future and whether it has fallen below expectations, supporting our findings with
relevant data and strong arguments.
Manjula Nair

n March this year, Willie Walsh, Inter- sector grappling with uncertainties, volatile Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe,
national Air Transport Association’s volumes and capacities worldwide jostling North America, South America, Middle
(IATA) Director General had said between the pandemic’s aftermath and East, and Africa.”
Iabout January 2022 figures, “Demand geopolitical turbulence.
growth of 2.7% in January was below To understand this better, we zoomed Falling below expectations
expectation, following the 9.3% recorded into transatlantic freight routes. These So where did this industrial epithet come
in December.” routes rake in cargo revenue from flights from?
He went on to add that this percentage that cross the Atlantic Ocean with origins Apart from Walsh’s statements, we
point likely reflects a shift towards the and destinations principally in Europe, In- did a deep dive applying the phrase to
more normal growth rate of 4.9% expected dia, the Middle East and North Africa which more recent contemporary contexts, so
for this year. “Looking ahead, however, we form this airfreight passageway. we decided to strap
can expect cargo markets to be impacted As to why the transatlantic? Market ourselves in and
by the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Sanction-re- intelligence specialists – The Business travel back in time
lated shifts in manufacturing and econom- Research Company – in an October 2022 to IATA’s data published
ic activity, rising oil prices and geopolitical report entitled ‘Air Cargo Services Global in June this year.
uncertainty are converging. Capacity is Market Report 2022’ stated, “Asia Pacific According to IATA’s monthly air cargo mar-
expected to come under greater pressure was the largest region in the air cargo ket analysis for June 2022, “Global demand,
and rates are likely to rise. To what extent, services market in 2021. North America was measured in cargo tonne-kilometres (CTKs),
however, it is still too early to predict.” the second largest region in the air cargo fell 11.2% compared to April 2021 (-10.6% for
‘Falling below expectation’ set the tone services market. The regions covered in the international operations). Global demand is
for the air cargo industry in 2022, with the air cargo services market report are Asia- down 1% compared to April 2019.”

18 | NOVEMBER 2022 www.stattimes.com