IATA has published its analysis of the global air freight market, the results within suggest a market in recovery, one that is matching manufacturing levels; a sector to which it is inextricably bound.
According to IATA the air freight market grew by 4.5 per cent in January, a sharp increase in growth from 2013's annual rate of 1.4 per cent. This is a reflection of global economic growth and, in particular, the recovery of global trade. However what is somewhat unusual about this recovery is that the air freight market is only matching global trade and manufacturing growth. Historically, during economic upturns the air freight market has been the beneficiary of a growth rate roughly twice that of manufacturing; that has not been the case on this occasion. Many commentators have suggested that the crucial difference between this recovery, and those that have come before it, is the global trend for nearshoring and the subsequent reduction in demand for global air transport.
Evidence of nearshoring is likely to be felt soonest, and most keenly, by the air freight market, as the industry thrives on the type of high tech manufacturing that is most likely to be moved back to developed markets first and in the largest quantities. The implications of this trend would certainly explain why, although air freight has recovered and is growing steadily, its growth has not been as impressive as historic precedents might suggest.