Cargo volumes at Dubai World Central (DWC)  have surged 382 per cent in the first three months of 2012, according to the quarterly traffic report issued by Dubai Airports.

The airport, now only in its second full year of operation, recorded a 382.2 per cent increase in cargo volumes to 50,062 tonnes in the first quarter of the year, compared to 10,381 tonnes in the first three months of 2011.

Air traffic movements at the airport also increased sharply, rising 313.3 per cent to 3,513 movements in the first three months of 2012 compared to 850 in the previous comparable period. 

The growth was driven by additional charter and scheduled services introduced over the past year as well as the securing of several large non-commercial contracts. In March Saudi Airlines Cargo became the latest major airline to begin a scheduled freight service to DWC with three weekly flights from Riyadh, the Saudi capital.

“Despite the fact that the global cargo industry remains under pressure, DWC continues to ramp up as new operations are introduced. Increasingly airlines are recognising that the airport, which is still in its infancy, has a unique value proposition with airlines able to take advantage of the its bonded link to the Jebel Ali port,” said Paul Griffiths, CEO Dubai Airports. “Dubai Airports’ total cargo volumes are expected to top 3 million tonnes by 2015 and an increasing portion of that growth is expected to spill over to DWC.” 

“In 2012 the economic picture has improved marginally from last year. World trade is gradually beginning to recover. While some major European economies have slipped into recession, US consumer confidence is on the upswing, China’s economic expansion remains robust and both Thailand and Japan have started to rebuild from last year’s natural disasters. This can only help augment volumes at Dubai’s airports which benefit from a growing network and a geocentric location that allow them to tap into these global trade flows,” said Griffiths.

Some 22 airlines have signed up for cargo operations at DWC, which has a cargo capacity of 250,000 tonnes/annum which is expandable to 600,000 tonnes/annum. - - TradeArabia News Service