Air freight industry braces for 2025

CGTN Europe

After a stellar 2024, the air freight industry is bracing for a turbulent year of global trade.   But there is confidence that continuing demand for e-commerce will help overcome some of the challenges.   CGTN’s William Denselow reports from Belgium,   #CGTN #Belgium #Cargo

Transcript

00:00Demand for air cargo has been soaring. The sector saw 12% year-on-year growth last year

00:07and an 18% rise compared to 2019.

00:11Ostend Bruges Airport in the north-west of Belgium is seeking to capitalise.

00:16Competition in airports is very fierce.

00:19We are facing a real competition, a strong competition between European airports

00:25to attract this cargo traffic.

00:29Competition is being fuelled by a booming e-commerce sector.

00:33It currently accounts for roughly 20% of all air cargo volume

00:37and analysts expect it to hit 30% by 2030.

00:41But the industry could be facing headwinds blowing in from Washington.

00:46Analysts say the threat of widespread tariffs from the Trump administration

00:51could have a particular impact on the sea freight sector

00:55and could potentially lead to surging shipping costs as seen in his first term in office.

01:02Air freight companies may be more nimble in adapting to trade disputes

01:06but industry experts at the World Cargo Summit are still bracing for impact.

01:12I expect a lot of micro spikes, micro troughs of demand

01:17so every participant in the marketplace, be it the shippers and exporters,

01:23be it the forwarders, airports, cargo airlines,

01:26will have to kind of have a muscle of dealing with these kind of stop-and-go situations for a while.

01:34Panelists here, however, say the industry can still achieve modest growth in 2025.

01:40Our ability to manoeuvre, to manoeuvre based on the changes in trade mix,

01:45to manoeuvre based on the changes in trade links.

01:49And so I think overall I'm still optimistic about this year.

01:55Worldwide demand for goods is expected to remain robust

01:59but about a third of global freighter aircrafts are over 30 years old,

02:04the time they're ideally taken out of service.

02:07This adds financial pressures to a service already facing demands to deliver fresh stock

02:13and avoid supply delays.

02:16William Denslow, CGTN, Ostend.

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