Air Cargo

It is a good time to be in the freight transport business with air cargo and ocean shipping on the trade lanes out of Asia seeing sustained demand and robust rate levels.

Underpinning strong volume growth is booming demand for Chinese e-commerce in the US and modal shift from ocean to air in South Asian countries to mitigate Red Sea disruptions.

Group CFO Melanie Kreis would not comment on the near-term freight rate outlook or the likelihood of a modal shift from ocean to air or sea-air caused by supply chain disruptions, including the ongoing vessel diversions to avoid the Red Sea.

US package shippers are shifting from air to ground and from premium-priced to deferred services, UPS says, boosting its SurePost volumes by 10%.

Demand that began to build at the end of last year spilled into the first quarter and K+N says its forward bookings indicate the positive volume development will continue as the year progresses.

Given the huge volumes involved in ocean freight, even a small percentage shift in transport mode from South Asia shippers is enough to keep air cargo demand and rates buoyant.

With Asia-Europe services already served by 12 weekly flights out of Paris, the addition of an Asia-US network will fill a crucial gap in the airline’s global coverage.

Chinese e-commerce marketplaces are rapidly expanding their global reach as strong demand from online shoppers in the US and Europe drives up air freight volumes and keeps transport capacity tight.

The air freight market is off to a strong start this year with volume out of Asia up 11% in the traditionally slow first quarter while rates rose steadily through March.

The top end of the global 3PL sector is populated by companies that see a down market as a chance to focus on higher-yield customers and those that see a chance to build market share.

The acquisition will add significant volume of air and ocean cargo to the MSC subsidiary and extend its reach into European markets.

The freight hauled by the largest LTL trucking company in the US will become more global under a reorganization of FedEx’s varied domestic and international networks.

Dubai continues to be one of the more popular destinations for European importers with time-sensitive cargo, with the airport able to covert ocean freight to air cargo in 24 hours.

The market upswing that began in November has continued through February, with the forwarder expecting further growth this year, especially in ocean freight.

PayCargo has taken a majority ownership stake in process automation company Rippey AI to better connect invoicing to payment transactions.

There was unilateral opposition to the call made by the European Commission last May as part of its reform of customs procedures, and as expected, the measure never made it through the parliamentary review

ChatGPT and generative AI have captured most of the attention around artificial intelligence in logistics, but the diverse range of processes underpinning global supply chains require multiple types of AI working in concert.

Maersk’s integrator strategy has encompassed more access to air freight capacity, including a new tool for shippers in India to digitally price and book specific flights.

The seasonal rise in air freight demand out of China ahead of the holiday has been strong, but analysts say the Red Sea effect on rising volumes remains unclear.

The Austria-based global logistics provider looks to increase its US presence, adding less-than-containerload services by acquiring a Utah-based forwarder.

A seasonal push to get shipments out of Asia before factories close for the Lunar New Year may be masking a switch to air from disrupted ocean networks.

With an amended merger agreement, months of contentious litigation are behind the companies, clearing the way for their combined forwarding and LTL operations. 

While the available capacity offered by air and rail is nowhere near that of ocean, the modes give cargo owners an alternative transport option for their more urgent shipments.

The two French giants are in discussions to set up a new partnership, with each party operating its own independent air cargo network.

Extended transit times, growing equipment shortages and port congestion are forcing European and Asian cargo owners to explore alternatives to ocean transport.

The strong e-commerce demand from the US that kept trans-Pacific air cargo rates rising through the fourth quarter quickly fell off after the end-of-year holidays.

Air freight volumes are not expected to show any significant growth until well into 2024, and some analysts question whether there will even be a peak season for exports from Asia at the end of the year.

Lower consumer demand for imports and domestic goods reshaped international and US freight markets in 2023.

Online shopping in North America and Europe has generated huge air freight volume out of China, with demand expected to continue past the Lunar New Year in February.

Workers loading and unloading planes at DHL Express’s Cincinnati-Kentucky hub will get higher wages and better benefits in a deal that ends a strike that threatened to disrupt the carrier’s US operations.

Those making offers — which analysts say could top $20 billion — are expected to be a list of major global forwarders including DSV, Kuehne+Nagel and DHL Global Forwarding.

Rates on the eastbound trans-Pacific are at levels not seen since September 2022, but indicators suggest the market strength will not extend too far into 2024.

But rising air cargo rates on the major Asian export trade lanes do not portend a peak season this year with analysts pointing to poor economic conditions exerting strong downward pressure on consumers in the US and Europe.

A month ago, no one was predicting a peak season for air cargo on the trans-Pacific, but finding space from China to the US has become difficult as e-commerce demand heats up.

The announcement was made simultaneously with the forwarder releasing its nine-month financial results that reflected softening air and ocean markets, dragging down profitability from last year’s record performance.

Shipments are getting smaller over time, driven in part by e-commerce growth, but also by a market that is disentangling cargo previously handled through air or ocean consolidation.

The last two months have been good for the air cargo market on export trade lanes out of Asia, but there remains considerable uncertainty whether the positive momentum will continue.

Rising airline costs and increasing air cargo demand over the last three months have largely insulated rate levels against a steady and significant increase in available air freight capacity.

Richard White said in an interview with the Journal of Commerce the logistics industry is stuck in a pattern of tackling small problems instead of viewing international trade as a large, connected system.

A widening imbalance between available air freight capacity and demand has dragged global rates to their lowest level since the start of the pandemic, with no signs of volumes improving on key outbound routes from Asia.