While worldwide cargo volume increased 3.3 percent, year-over-year, in the first quarter of 2015, yields dropped by almost 11 percent, compared to the same period in 2014. However, excluding surcharges, Q1 yields in USD increased by 1.4 percent, year-over-year. The quarter’s best-performing regions included Europe, which increased its export volume by 4.1 percent, and North America, which saw imports rise by 12.6 percent, year over year, according to the latest figures released by WorldACD.
Continuing a seasonal trend, worldwide volumes in April 2015 were almost 6 percent lower than in March this year, with the exception of the Asia-Pacific region, where volumes remained the same. April yields in USD fell 4 percent worldwide, compared to March, with the European carriers falling flat in all origin regions except Asia-Pacific, where growth was modest.
For Q1, Asia-Pacific carriers were up 7 percent, while the Middle East carriers were up 9 percent, year-over-year, outpacing competition from other parts of the world. Latin America was the sole region that contracted in the quarter, seeing imports fall by 3 percent, y-o-y. North American carriers, however, showed impressive growth in pharma at a whopping 26 percent, y-o-y, for Q1. Meanwhile, carriers from Africa and the Middle East recorded y-o-y growth of 13 percent in the perishable market during the same period.
The performance of the world’s top 20 forwarders didn’t change too much (19 still made the list in 2015), but, as a whole, their collective worldwide share of revenue dropped from 45.1 percent in Q1 2014 to 44.4 percent in Q1 2015. Of those, the elite group’s yield dropped more than 12 percent, y-o-y, whereas the worldwide yield for the smaller forwarders fell by 10 percent. Six of the top 20 forwarders saw a revenue increase, year-over-year, for the quarter, with three of those six based in Japan.