Air Cargo Carriers News

Whereas a shortage of capacity in major trades was the chief issue for air cargo providers over the past two years, the greatest challenge in 2023 will be a lack of demand.

The weakness in Asia’s air freight export markets continued through the traditionally strong month of November, with little prospect of an end-of-year boost in demand.

The expanding platform provided by shippers seeking green transport has allowed Maersk to ramp up its ocean sustainability efforts, with greening landside logistics the next target.

Growing uncertainty over demand levels and falling rates is making longer-term traditional air freight block space agreements unattractive.

Cementing access to controlled air freight capacity is behind MSC’s move to join peers CMA CGM and Maersk in launching an air cargo division.

China’s rolling COVID-19 lockdowns and significant disruption linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have left the global air freight market to face a difficult second half of the year.

Air cargo capacity is flooding back into the trans-Atlantic market via below deck belly space as travel increases and airlines ramp up their summer schedules.

If the offer by MSC and Lufthansa for ITA is successful, it will provide the ocean carrier with access to significant air freight capacity.

In just 18 months, CMA CGM has gone from providing air cargo as part of its CEVA Logistics suite of services to becoming a major player in the global air freight market.

Shippers of time-sensitive goods on the North Europe-North America trade are increasingly being forced into the air as rising congestion on the US East Coast extends vessel delays.

Bonded trucking services in and out of Shanghai’s Pudong have been suspended and most flights have been canceled, bringing operations at China’s busiest cargo airport to a standstill.

The ever-widening effects of Russia’s war on Ukraine and China’s COVID-19 lockdowns are placing mounting pressure on an already stressed air cargo sector.

Growing demand for e-commerce is behind forwarder moves to lock in controlled air freight capacity on Asia-US routes, with a particular focus on Vietnam.

An update to new COVID-19 quarantine rules in Hong Kong has prompted Cathay Pacific to halted long-haul freight flights, potentially exacerbating a supply crunch ahead of the Lunar New Year peak.

Toughening Hong Kong’s quarantine requirement for air cargo pilots would severely disrupt airfreight operations during peak air cargo season and ahead of China’s Lunar New Year holiday.

An electronic connection between CargoWise and Singapore Airlines is another sign that digital management of bookings and shipment modifications is gaining momentum in the air cargo market.

The bottlenecks that have frustrated ocean shippers all year have spread to air cargo, pushing up rates to stratospheric levels and delaying shipments.

International air freight and last-mile delivery saw the fastest revenue growth in the transportation sector last year, while industrial transportation suffered.

Global air cargo volumes in August and September were up just 1 percent compared to the same months in 2019, but the shortage of capacity has shippers fighting to secure capacity ahead of holiday season.

There is little clarity in Shanghai airport’s evolving COVID-19 lockdown situation, with forwarders in China asked not to deliver export cargo to the terminals and airlines suspending inbound shipments.

Air cargo industry experts told the TPM21 conference the belly space that normally makes up more than half of all available freight capacity will likely remain sidelined as airlines continue to struggle with uncertain passenger demand.

Apex Logistics International plans to continue to expand scheduled charters in 2021 after seeing a 200 percent increase in charter demand in 2020.

Airlines are beginning to extend the validity of rates offered on some major trades after cutting price and space guarantees to one week or even less when passenger fleets were first grounded at the end of the first quarter of 2020.

There’s debate about how much of a knock-on effect COVID-19 vaccine distribution could have on other types of cargoes, but US shippers are cautioned to plan for some disruption.

The air cargo industry is gradually moving to electronic bookings between forwarders and airlines, but the evolution could still take time if previous digitization initiatives in the industry are any indication.

A partnership between airfreight software specialist WebCargo and cargo airline management platform IBS will enable carriers to quote more efficiently, and electronically, to forwarders.

Lufthansa Cargo will offer instant air freight quotes via an application programming interface with digital forwarder Fleet, a company in which the German airline invested in 2018.

After a disappointing peak season in 2019, the outlook for international air freight in 2020 will depend on an acceleration in global trade demand and an easing of tensions between the United States and its trading partners, particularly China.

The IL-96 500T will substitute for An-124 deliveries, hobbled by the Crimean annexation.

The outlook for air cargo is turning negative as carriers face headwinds in the form of trade upheaval and falling demand.

Gathering e-commerce momentum is revolutionizing global air cargo supply chains.

“I don’t know if the peak this year will look like last year, but we have about 20 freighters and take a lot of volume in our widebody fleet that we expanded quite a bit, so there are a lot more destinations,” Cathay Pacific CEO Rupert Hogg said. “But going into next year the future is unknown.”

Further, trans-Pacific shippers will welcome the additional capacity, especially this peak season, for several reasons.

Aligning capacity with fluctuating demand and sticker-shock pricing is always a tough dance in the air cargo spot market, and it is getting more difficult.

The scheduled Hong Kong-LAX freighter service to be launched by Flexport is aimed at locking in space on the busy route.

The recovering air cargo market is generating unprecedented growth at selected airports in Asia and Europe.

The space-choked China-US air freight routes may see rate levels reach incredible highs as demand overpowers supply ahead of Chinese New Year.

There will be little respite for shippers struggling to reserve air cargo space on the major trades until mid-February, with strong demand expected to continue until the Lunar New Year.

Freight rates for air cargo are rising steadily and space is at a premium with no slowing of demand.

Peak season demand is using up all available capacity and pushing up rates to unheard of levels.