13/05/2020

FRA Cargo Climate Index Week 19

News

Week 19 (May 4th to May 10th 2020)                  

(Compared to previous week: →)

 

Actual Traffic Figures

Cw 18

Cw 19 Δ % y-t-y
Cargo (Freight & Mail in t) 35.877 34.795  ( - 15,6%
Passengers 48.570  52.773 () - 96,2%
Aircraft Movements 1.682 1.720 (↗) - 83,4%

After 20% growth in cargo volume in week 17 & 18, a slight decrease of 3.0% compared to the previous week can be observed in week 19. The last few days have not shown any further decline, so that a sideways movement can be assumed (). The slight upturn in exports in recent weeks has not proven to be sustainable (). FRA is approaching a ratio of 55% import to 45% export. Only 5% of the cargo volume is now carried as additional cargo on passenger flights ().

Cargo aircrafts and cargo-only passenger aircrafts account for more than 50% of the aircraft movements in FRA () / The cargo-only passenger aircrafts of almost 40 airlines () have reached almost 50% () of the cargo-only aircraft movements / From week to week, an increasing number of airlines are relying on additional cargo capacity through cabin loading () / After a maximum capacity loss of almost 45% in week 16, 30% of the originally offered cargo capacity is still lacking ()

Classification of the current situation by the cargo stakeholders interviewed
The situation in imports remains unchanged both in terms of volume and structure of goods: around 70% of those interviewed rated the volume as "above expectations" or "as expected" (). The main driver of the volume remains "medical" protective equipment. In exports, the volume is in line with expectations, albeit at a low absolute level (). No change is expected for further development in import (). On the other hand, respondents expect a slight decrease in import volumes in the next few days ().

While additional capacities are available for imports on the airside (), the landside is working to capacity (). Capacity is still available along the supply chain for exports ().

The current high level of capacity utilisation in import cargo processes is leading to a growing dissatisfaction (around 30%) with the landside performance (). Satisfaction with airside handling services and the performance of the authorities and in-house is consistently high ().

Important topics for the interviewed cargo stakeholders, current & future
The high volatility of the workload and changes in the structure of imported goods remain challenging. In particular, the resulting long waiting times at the landside gateways were mentioned.

The high number and intensive use of staff required due to the additional manual effort in import handling caused some respondents to worry that a Covid-19 case in the working team could lead to considerable operational challenges.

Looking further into the future, interviewees expressed concerns that important system partners - especially airlines - will not sustain the crisis.

 

Issued by: FRA Cargo Team as of: May 13th 2020, Cargo & Logistics Infrastructure Development, ZFL, Fraport AG
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