Lufthansa Cargo again maintained its leading position in Europe last year, with a total of 1.6 million tonnes of freight and mail flown. The total volume declined slightly in a challenging market environment. The company had carried around two percent more freight the previous year. Lufthansa Cargo increased the capacity offered by two percent over the last twelve months. However, with sales falling slightly, capacity utilisation was also down. The full-year load factor amounted to 66.3 per cent (-3.4 percentage points). "Last year was not an easy one for the air freight industry", emphasised Lufthansa Cargo CEO Peter Gerber. "Turbulence in the Chinese market and the strong US Dollar, that affected a lot of industries, stretched us all to our limits. Strikes called by the Vereinigung Cockpit pilots' union and the cabin crew union UFO also weighed heavily on us at Lufthansa Cargo." Nevertheless, Lufthansa Cargo continued to invest further in its own product and network last year, adding new destinations in places such as Turkmenistan, Vietnam and Brazil to its flight schedule. The high customer satisfaction level of the previous year was maintained.