According to the latest weekly market analysis by Xeneta, the early lunar year and the Red Sea crisis pushed the global air cargo volumes up by a surprise 10%.
“We saw a relatively strong January from a volume perspective, said Niall van de Wouw, Xeneta’s Chief Airfreight Officer.
Demand for air cargo is traditionally lower in January.
“But the market fundamentals have not changed. This is not consumers buying more, it is likely linked to Red Sea disruption as well as the upcoming Lunar New Year and some indicators that the general cargo market is busier than expected. We don’t see this reflected in rates but that’s not surprising in January because there’s not the same pressure on capacity,” added Naill.
The rates, however, did not increase thanks to plenty of available capacity in air cargo at this time of the year.