Will Middle East freight carriers be among those who can feast on the e-commerce pie?

Digitalization of all processes will help the air cargo industry to adapt to the needs of online shopping.

The faster the global e-commerce market grows, the more and more often I think about what benefits air cargo carriers can derive from it. For example, the airline ZetAvia, which transports goods to the countries of the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

Let's find out what IATA recommends to air carriers during a pandemic and what conclusions were drawn in a recent report of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

After analyzing the results of the impact of the coronavirus on the e-commerce market in 2020, the International Air Transport Association called the reduction of processing time for all processes of air, border and customs operations a key direction for those who want to be on the same wavelength with online stores.

However, UNCTAD concluded that not everyone can now “feast on the pie” of e-commerce, the turnover of which in 2020 reached $ 3.5 trillion. According to a 2020 eMarketer study, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa combined account for only 3% of total e-commerce. And, for example, the Asia-Pacific region, where most of these transactions are currently taking place, accounts for 62% of global retail e-commerce transactions by value. In terms of online retail sales, China has overtaken everyone, where IATA forecasts e-commerce sales this year to reach $ 2.8 trillion, or almost 57% of the world's total. UNCTAD notes that countries that are leveraging the potential of e-commerce will have more opportunities in the future to benefit from the global markets for their goods and services in the context of a digital economy, while others are at risk of falling further behind.

Meanwhile, Boeing's latest forecast indicates that there will be demand for 2,430 cargo aircraft over the next two decades, including 930 new production models and 1,500 converted passenger aircraft.

It is likely that the cargo segment of the Middle East aviation industry will need additional time to adapt to the new trends dictated by the pandemic and draw its own conclusions.

Oleg Sergeev