newstodate.aero
Sep 21, 2009 (newstodate): Among the Nordic air cargo markets, Sweden was probably affected the hardest by the global financial and economic crisis in 2009, according to Lufthansa Cargo.
-Sweden is strongly related to the US market and therefore hit very hard by the financial and economic crisis developing in the USA, says Kay Wichmann, Lufthansa Cargo director Nordic and Baltic countries.
-Sweden's exports are also highly exposed in the automotive sector, and we have seen production volumes by SAAB and Volvo sliding down towards zero in 2009, although they are now slowly picking up again.
-Also the depreciation in 2009 by 15-20 percent of the Swedish Krone against world currencies took a heavy toll on Lufthansa Cargo's revenue in the Swedish market as we are trading in euro.
-The decline in the Swedish market gained momentum from the start of 2009 already, and this unfortunately forced us to lay off a few staff. But things seem to be easing slightly from autumn, and we are fairly optimistic about prospects for the coming peak towards the end of the year.
-Despite this difficult situation in the Swedish market and a general decline by 30 percent in total CASS volumes, Lufthansa Cargo still managed to maintain its share of the market's volumes, even increasing slightly in percentage against 2008. I will, however, refrain from any guess about what to expect from 2010, says Mr Wichmann.
-Sweden is strongly related to the US market and therefore hit very hard by the financial and economic crisis developing in the USA, says Kay Wichmann, Lufthansa Cargo director Nordic and Baltic countries.
-Sweden's exports are also highly exposed in the automotive sector, and we have seen production volumes by SAAB and Volvo sliding down towards zero in 2009, although they are now slowly picking up again.
-Also the depreciation in 2009 by 15-20 percent of the Swedish Krone against world currencies took a heavy toll on Lufthansa Cargo's revenue in the Swedish market as we are trading in euro.
-The decline in the Swedish market gained momentum from the start of 2009 already, and this unfortunately forced us to lay off a few staff. But things seem to be easing slightly from autumn, and we are fairly optimistic about prospects for the coming peak towards the end of the year.
-Despite this difficult situation in the Swedish market and a general decline by 30 percent in total CASS volumes, Lufthansa Cargo still managed to maintain its share of the market's volumes, even increasing slightly in percentage against 2008. I will, however, refrain from any guess about what to expect from 2010, says Mr Wichmann.