German cargo market drops by more than 20% in June

Airlines and freight forwarders experienced some big declines in German export volumes in June, writes Oliver Link from Air Cargo News sister title DVZ.

According to the latest Iata Cargo Account Settlement System (Cass) data, the total volume of freight exported from Germany dropped by 24.6% on a weight basis compared with the same month of the previous year.

Among the top 10 carriers, Qatar Airways, with a market share of 5.1%, was the worst hit, down 37% on the same month last year, followed by the sixth-placed Emirates, down 33% (market share 4.4%) and tenth-placed United Airlines which recorded a volume decline of 32.6% (market share 2.6%).

Second-placed Cargolux scored relatively well with a drop in volumes of 2.9% compared with the same month of the previous year (market share 9.2%).

First-placed Lufthansa Cargo (market share of 23.3%) suffered a 16.7% drop in freight by weight.

Among the top 10 forwarders, the volume drop was most keenly felt by tenth-placed UPS Supply Chain Solutions, which was down by 53% year on year in June (market share 2%).

DSV Air & Sea recorded a decline of 40.2% (market share 3.6%) and market leader Kuehne + Nagel was down 29.9% percent on a year ago (market share 13.2%).

With DSV and Panalpina in the process of merging, the combined business, which ranks second worldwide in terms of airfreight volume, will have a market share of 8.5% in Germany and will be the country’s fourth largest forwarder.

Third placed Schenker, meanwhile has an 11% market share and saw its June volumes drop by 25% compared with last year, while number two in Germany, DHL Global Forwarding, has a market share of 9.1% and saw its volumes for the month slide by 15.9% year on year.