Emirates Cargo saw an improvement in volumes in 2023

Despite weak market conditions, Emirates Cargo saw air cargo volumes grow in 2023 and plans to continue investing in its fleet and services next year.

The airline said its cargo volume rose 7 percent year-on-year to 1.18 million tonnes between January and mid-December 2023, while the International Air Transport Association expects the overall air cargo market to decline by about 3-4 percent.

Like many airlines with large passenger fleets, Emirates' cargo business has also benefited from an increase in belly traffic following the coronavirus pandemic.

In addition, in the first quarter of this year, Emirates Air Cargo expanded its cargo capacity by leasing two Boeing 747-400 freighters to meet customer demand for additional cargo capacity.

The planes join its fleet of 11 Boeing 777Fs and 251 passenger jets.

Cargo fleet expansion is an important part of Emirates Cargo's future growth plans.

The airline has also ordered four new 777-200Fs, which are expected to be delivered in 2024, and a fifth 777-200F in 2025.

This is in addition to the 310 wide-body aircraft Emirates has ordered, with deliveries of new aircraft and new cargo capacity to continue until 2035.

The company has also expanded its reach in Canada and North America through an intermodal partnership with Air Canada Cargo.

In total, Emirates Cargo plans to add 20 new destinations to its cargo network.

An evolving product portfolio

In this year's summary, Emirates Cargo noted that it has launched two new bespoke products in its life sciences and healthcare verticals.

Emirates Vital is designed to transport clinical trials, cell and gene therapies, and human samples.

Emirates Medical Devices is able to transport everything from pacemakers to MRIs and adheres to GDP norms.

Since then, Emirates Air Cargo has used these two products to lift nearly 1,000 tons of highly sensitive cargo.

In addition, e-commerce services Emirates is expanding its operations into Kuwait, offering e-commerce shoppers door-to-door international delivery of goods purchased from the UK and the US.

Emirates Cargo said it was preparing to scale up Emirates Express in 2024 as it noticed that in the wider Middle East region, it was previously underserved in e-commerce cargo.

Pushing digital is also a key focus for the cargo airline. In addition to having its own online booking platform on e-SkyCargo, the airline's capacity is now also available on digital marketplaces CargoAi and WebCargo.

Additionally, in October, Emirates Air Cargo established a hostage-to-host connection with freight forwarder Kuehne+Nagel, giving users direct access to its products and services through Kuehne+Nagel's internal booking engine.

The company is also planning further digital expansion in early 2024.

Sustainability and the environment will be areas of continued investment next year, the company said.

Ongoing initiatives include ground programs to ensure that 75 percent of plastic sheeting in the airline's Dubai facilities is recycled to optimize the way aircraft are loaded.

Nabil Sultan, Senior Vice President of Emirates Cargo, said: "2023 is a pivotal year for Emirates Cargo. While air cargo continues to fluctuate, long-term trends suggest that the industry is growing at a rate of 3-5% per year.

"However, Emirates Air Cargo continues to outperform market growth, adding more than 1.183 million tonnes from January to mid-December, an increase of 7% compared to last year.

Looking ahead, we are well positioned to steadily scale our business in 2024, continuing our strategic growth to ensure we are ahead of the industry in fast, reliable, flexible and efficient solutions."