{"id":4186,"date":"2026-04-17T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/?p=4186"},"modified":"2026-04-20T10:30:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T02:30:14","slug":"march-sees-decline-in-global-air-cargo-tonnages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/tc\/march-sees-decline-in-global-air-cargo-tonnages\/","title":{"rendered":"March sees decline in global air cargo tonnages"},"content":{"rendered":"

With our strong presence in the expedited international airfreight sector, the U-Freight Group notes that global air cargo tonnage fell in March, according to latest WorldACD data, reversing the growth seen in the first two months of 2026 as the conflict in the Middle East continues to weigh on the market.

The air cargo market data provider said after year on year (YoY) growth of 8% in January and 7% in February, it fell 4% in March.

“Tonnage flown in March reflects the impact of the war in the Middle East,” WorldACD said.

The MESA region saw a 21% decline compared to the same month last year \u2014 taking the most hit from the disruptions in the Middle East, although it also affected Africa, which saw a 13% drop year on year.

Europe and the Asia Pacific region saw a 5% and 4% contraction in chargeable weight, respectively.\u00a0

“The combination of capacity loss in the Middle East with fuel and war risk surcharges drove up global pricing in March 12% higher YoY, coming from -1% in January and +5% in February,” WorldACD said, adding that average rates last month were up 52% from MESA, 24% from Europe and 18% from Africa.
\u00a0
Meanwhile, WorldACD said the ceasefire agreement between Washington and Tehran raised hopes of a lasting settlement of the conflict, but the truce appears fragile at this point, with many open questions over the terms of the agreement.
\u00a0
It added that while news of the diplomatic breakthrough triggered a drop in the price of oil, most observers have warned that inflation and elevated fuel costs will persist for some time.
\u00a0
“By the same token, bellyhold capacity through the Middle East will take time to recover, keeping a floor under pricing,” the report said.
\u00a0
“For their part, container lines are awaiting details from Tehran for the resumption of moves through the Strait of Hormuz and do not expect a return to pre-conflict flows for some time.”

For more information about the U-Freight Group\u2019s global air freight forwarding and logistics services, or our e-commerce logistics operations, please visit the relevant pages of this website or contact your local office, details of which can be seen here: https:\/\/ufreight.com\/locations<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With our strong presence in the expedited international airfreight sector, the U-Freight Group notes that global air cargo tonnage fell in March, according to latest WorldACD data, reversing the growth seen in the first two months of 2026 as the conflict in the Middle East continues to weigh on the market. The air cargo market…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1975,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nMarch sees decline in global air cargo tonnages - UFL Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With our strong presence in the expedited international airfreight sector, the U-Freight Group notes that global air cargo tonnage fell in March, according to latest WorldACD data, reversing the growth seen in the first two months of 2026 as the conflict in the Middle East continues to weigh on the market. The air cargo market data provider said after year on year (YoY) growth of 8% in January and 7% in February, it fell 4% in March.\u00a0"Tonnage flown in March reflects the impact of the war in the Middle East," WorldACD said.\u00a0The MESA region saw a 21% decline compared to the same month last year \u2014 taking the most hit from the disruptions in the Middle East, although it also affected Africa, which saw a 13% drop year on year.\u00a0Europe and the Asia Pacific region saw a 5% and 4% contraction in chargeable weight, respectively.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/tc\/march-sees-decline-in-global-air-cargo-tonnages\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"zh_HK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"March sees decline in global air cargo tonnages - UFL Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With our strong presence in the expedited international airfreight sector, the U-Freight Group notes that global air cargo tonnage fell in March, according to latest WorldACD data, reversing the growth seen in the first two months of 2026 as the conflict in the Middle East continues to weigh on the market. The air cargo market data provider said after year on year (YoY) growth of 8% in January and 7% in February, it fell 4% in March.\u00a0"Tonnage flown in March reflects the impact of the war in the Middle East," WorldACD said.\u00a0The MESA region saw a 21% decline compared to the same month last year \u2014 taking the most hit from the disruptions in the Middle East, although it also affected Africa, which saw a 13% drop year on year.\u00a0Europe and the Asia Pacific region saw a 5% and 4% contraction in chargeable weight, respectively.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/tc\/march-sees-decline-in-global-air-cargo-tonnages\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UFL Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-17T08:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-20T02:30:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/5_ISSUE_51-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"899\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"UFL Group\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"\u4f5c\u8005\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"UFL Group\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"\u9810\u8a08\u95b1\u8b80\u6642\u9593\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 \u5206\u9418\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/march-sees-decline-in-global-air-cargo-tonnages\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/march-sees-decline-in-global-air-cargo-tonnages\/\",\"name\":\"March sees decline in global air cargo tonnages - UFL Group\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/march-sees-decline-in-global-air-cargo-tonnages\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/march-sees-decline-in-global-air-cargo-tonnages\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/5_ISSUE_51-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-17T08:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-20T02:30:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8f1ca5720cfc3393bf38f9e0162456c1\"},\"description\":\"With our strong presence in the expedited international airfreight sector, the U-Freight Group notes that global air cargo tonnage fell in March, according to latest WorldACD data, reversing the growth seen in the first two months of 2026 as the conflict in the Middle East continues to weigh on the market. The air cargo market data provider said after year on year (YoY) growth of 8% in January and 7% in February, it fell 4% in March.\u00a0\\\"Tonnage flown in March reflects the impact of the war in the Middle East,\\\" WorldACD said.\u00a0The MESA region saw a 21% decline compared to the same month last year \u2014 taking the most hit from the disruptions in the Middle East, although it also affected Africa, which saw a 13% drop year on year.\u00a0Europe and the Asia Pacific region saw a 5% and 4% contraction in chargeable weight, respectively.\u00a0\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/march-sees-decline-in-global-air-cargo-tonnages\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"zh-HK\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/march-sees-decline-in-global-air-cargo-tonnages\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"zh-HK\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/march-sees-decline-in-global-air-cargo-tonnages\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/5_ISSUE_51-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/5_ISSUE_51-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":899,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/march-sees-decline-in-global-air-cargo-tonnages\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"March sees decline in global air cargo tonnages\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/\",\"name\":\"UFL Group\",\"description\":\"Service without Boundaries\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"zh-HK\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8f1ca5720cfc3393bf38f9e0162456c1\",\"name\":\"UFL Group\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"zh-HK\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c316a4ec913df731468f36b0b48ff715b470e57f09112d383798a9989b419d36?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c316a4ec913df731468f36b0b48ff715b470e57f09112d383798a9989b419d36?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"UFL Group\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/tc\/author\/tung-ho\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"March sees decline in global air cargo tonnages - UFL Group","description":"With our strong presence in the expedited international airfreight sector, the U-Freight Group notes that global air cargo tonnage fell in March, according to latest WorldACD data, reversing the growth seen in the first two months of 2026 as the conflict in the Middle East continues to weigh on the market. The air cargo market data provider said after year on year (YoY) growth of 8% in January and 7% in February, it fell 4% in March.\u00a0\"Tonnage flown in March reflects the impact of the war in the Middle East,\" WorldACD said.\u00a0The MESA region saw a 21% decline compared to the same month last year \u2014 taking the most hit from the disruptions in the Middle East, although it also affected Africa, which saw a 13% drop year on year.\u00a0Europe and the Asia Pacific region saw a 5% and 4% contraction in chargeable weight, respectively.\u00a0","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/tc\/march-sees-decline-in-global-air-cargo-tonnages\/","og_locale":"zh_HK","og_type":"article","og_title":"March sees decline in global air cargo tonnages - UFL Group","og_description":"With our strong presence in the expedited international airfreight sector, the U-Freight Group notes that global air cargo tonnage fell in March, according to latest WorldACD data, reversing the growth seen in the first two months of 2026 as the conflict in the Middle East continues to weigh on the market. The air cargo market data provider said after year on year (YoY) growth of 8% in January and 7% in February, it fell 4% in March.\u00a0\"Tonnage flown in March reflects the impact of the war in the Middle East,\" WorldACD said.\u00a0The MESA region saw a 21% decline compared to the same month last year \u2014 taking the most hit from the disruptions in the Middle East, although it also affected Africa, which saw a 13% drop year on year.\u00a0Europe and the Asia Pacific region saw a 5% and 4% contraction in chargeable weight, respectively.\u00a0","og_url":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/tc\/march-sees-decline-in-global-air-cargo-tonnages\/","og_site_name":"UFL Group","article_published_time":"2026-04-17T08:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-20T02:30:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":899,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/5_ISSUE_51-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"UFL Group","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"\u4f5c\u8005":"UFL Group","\u9810\u8a08\u95b1\u8b80\u6642\u9593":"2 \u5206\u9418"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/march-sees-decline-in-global-air-cargo-tonnages\/","url":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/march-sees-decline-in-global-air-cargo-tonnages\/","name":"March sees decline in global air cargo tonnages - UFL Group","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/march-sees-decline-in-global-air-cargo-tonnages\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/march-sees-decline-in-global-air-cargo-tonnages\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/5_ISSUE_51-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-04-17T08:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-20T02:30:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8f1ca5720cfc3393bf38f9e0162456c1"},"description":"With our strong presence in the expedited international airfreight sector, the U-Freight Group notes that global air cargo tonnage fell in March, according to latest WorldACD data, reversing the growth seen in the first two months of 2026 as the conflict in the Middle East continues to weigh on the market. The air cargo market data provider said after year on year (YoY) growth of 8% in January and 7% in February, it fell 4% in March.\u00a0\"Tonnage flown in March reflects the impact of the war in the Middle East,\" WorldACD said.\u00a0The MESA region saw a 21% decline compared to the same month last year \u2014 taking the most hit from the disruptions in the Middle East, although it also affected Africa, which saw a 13% drop year on year.\u00a0Europe and the Asia Pacific region saw a 5% and 4% contraction in chargeable weight, respectively.\u00a0","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/march-sees-decline-in-global-air-cargo-tonnages\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"zh-HK","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ufreight.com\/march-sees-decline-in-global-air-cargo-tonnages\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"zh-HK","@id":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/march-sees-decline-in-global-air-cargo-tonnages\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/5_ISSUE_51-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/5_ISSUE_51-scaled.jpg","width":899,"height":600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/march-sees-decline-in-global-air-cargo-tonnages\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"March sees decline in global air cargo tonnages"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/","name":"UFL Group","description":"Service without Boundaries","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"zh-HK"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8f1ca5720cfc3393bf38f9e0162456c1","name":"UFL Group","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"zh-HK","@id":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c316a4ec913df731468f36b0b48ff715b470e57f09112d383798a9989b419d36?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c316a4ec913df731468f36b0b48ff715b470e57f09112d383798a9989b419d36?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"UFL Group"},"url":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/tc\/author\/tung-ho\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/tc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/tc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/tc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/tc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/tc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4186"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/tc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4187,"href":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/tc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4186\/revisions\/4187"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/tc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/tc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/tc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ufreight.com\/tc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}