The impact of last month’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan on the international supply chain looksto have depressed world air freight demand in March, according to early indicators.
Freight traffic to and from the world’s third-largest economy was severely disrupted in theaftermath of the March 11 catastrophe, especially with the temporary shutdown of production bymajor Japanese manufacturers, including hi-tech and automotive groups.
Hactl, the main air freight handler at Hong Kong International Airport, registered a 4.4 percent rise to 254,000 tonnes last month, leaving Q1 volumes up 2 per cent. Export volumes rose 4.3per cent last month while imports were just 0.8 per cent higher. But freight flows to and fromJapan suffered heavily. Exports to Japan dropped 18.3 per cent and imports from the country slumped22.6 per cent.
“The quake and the subsequent tsunami crisis in Japan are bringing supply chain disruptionswhich would likely affect the aviation industry amid its recovery trajectory. While we observed asignificant decline in export and import volumes to and from Japan in March, we will maintain aclose watch on the situation and its potential impact on our tonnage volumes over the comingmonths,” said Lilian Chan, Executive Director of Hactl.
In Europe, Frankfurt Airport saw a 0.3 per cent drop in volumes to about 203,000 tonnes lastmonth. “The catastrophe in Japan, which has led to disruptions in global distribution chains, wasthe contributing factor here,” airport operator Fraport commented. Over the first quarter of 2011,Frankfurt registered a 3.5 per cent rise to nearly 543,000 tonnes.
London Heathrow registered a 1.9 per cent drop in cargo tonnage last month, leaving volumesup 3.6 per cent over the first three months of the year, airports group BAA plc announced.
Meanwhile, airports association ACI has issued figures for February 2011, showing stagnatingfreight tonnage at airports around the world. International volumes were up just 1.6 per cent whiledomestic volumes declined 3.3 per cent.
Asia Pacific and the Middle East recorded declines of 3.4 and 9.3 per cent respectively.While the drop seen in Asia Pacific was mostly caused by domestic freight decreases, Middle Eastfreight is international only, ACI noted.
