WorldACD figures show extent of sea-air growth

The latest weekly figures from data analyst WorldACD show an upswing in volumes at sea-air hubs as a result of the Red Sea shipping crisis.

WorldACD figures show that over the first seven weeks of the year, Dubai, Colombo and Bangkok all saw their respective tonnages to Europe increase by more than 50% year on year.

Dubai-Europe traffic increased 71% year on year, Colombo-Europe tonnages increased 61% and Bangkok-Europe was up 58%.

Other sea-air hubs also recorded increased volumes in the first seven weeks but not to the same extent: Singapore-Europe volumes increased 10% and Doha-Europe improved by 3% year on year.

Handlers in both Dubai and Bangkok had implemented a temporary embargo as they struggled to keep up with demand.

However, WorldACD said it was unclear whether this trend for increased use of sea-air solutions would continue.

“Across the first seven weeks as a whole, there is a clear pattern of elevated tonnages to Europe from Dubai, Colombo and Bangkok,” WorldACD said. “The patterns are less clear in terms of pricing, because of multiple variables at play including Lunar New Year (LNY) and the market-wide decline in pricing compared with this time last year.

“And it’s unclear currently whether the elevated demand for sea-air solutions will continue significantly beyond the LNY period, with ex-Asia Pacific normally associated with a spike in demand leading up to LNY followed by a subsequent fall in tonnages and prices.”

So far at least, volumes remain high out of Dubai, Bangkok and Colombo, although there is likely to be some lag as the effects of the LNY-related factory closures kick in. This year, the LNY holiday started on February 10.

“Dubai-Europe gains have almost tripled in week seven (February 12 to 18) to +161%,year on year, while the previous three weeks stood at +89%, +93% and +77%. Colombo-Europe volumes in week 7 were more than double (+112%) the levels of week seven in 2023 and Bangkok-Europe tonnages also remained highly elevated (+68%),” WorldACD said.

While the impact of the LNY holiday break has yet to show up in sea-air data, the overall market is showing signs of a slowdown.

WorldACD figures show that exports out of Asia Pacific in week seven were down 10% compared with week six.

Global volumes were also down by 10% last week compared with the prior seven days.

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