Air Cargo

Soaring online orders for electronics and mobility devices are flooding the US postal services with undeclared lithium-ion batteries, posing a growing threat to the transport supply chain.

The global air cargo industry is flying into bracing headwinds, but airline CEOs remain largely positive that demand will return early next year.

There is no sign of an air cargo peak season this year and few signals that 2023 will see any improvement as global economic conditions worsen.

The world’s long-haul airlines are celebrating a steady return of passenger traffic, but as planes fill with travelers, weakening freight demand means carriers are struggling to fill the surplus cargo capacity below their feet.

A proposal to significantly reduce annual flights at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is rattling air cargo operators at the airport.

Maersk's new air freight facility in Chicago is building on its fast-growing air cargo offering following the November 2021 acquisition of Senator International and purchase of new freighters for its Maersk Air Cargo division.

Demand for air cargo declined through September, and analysts say there is nothing in their data to indicate a pickup in volume out of Asia through the balance of the year.

Spot rates on some air cargo routes out of Asia have fallen below long-term contract levels, mirroring the development in ocean shipping.

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.

Average air cargo rates on east-west trade lanes have declined significantly since April as demand slows in line with the traditional slack summer season.

Peak season has begun for air travel between Europe and North America, but forwarders making use of belly cargo capacity on passenger planes do not expect the below-deck boon to last.

An ongoing shortage of capacity on the main trade lanes out of Asia and growing signs of declining demand are clouding the air cargo outlook for the remainder of the year.

The air freight industry is seeing a welcome increase in the urgently needed long-haul belly cargo capacity available to the market as international travel starts picking up.

CMA CGM Air Cargo will use its parent company’s extensive ocean forwarder network to drive new business as the airline readies for a rapid global expansion under its Air France-KLM partnership.

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.

Logistics software provider Freightos is being taken public on the Nasdaq, a move that will be closely scrutinized by the founders and investors of growth-stage technology providers in the logistics industry.

A drop in air freight volumes on the Hong Kong-Europe trade lane is being caused by a lack of available capacity rather than constraints in demand, something an expanded carrier partnership hopes to address.

Freightos is targeting the payment space for air forwarders by tying an integrated payment tool between forwarders and cargo airlines to its WebCargo booking and rating software.

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 converting ocean consignments into air freight to avoid port bottlenecks along the US East Coast are filling all available air cargo capacity on the trans-Atlantic trade lane.

Winding down operations in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine has come with a hefty price tag, but transport providers are mostly playing down the impact.

New research from Freightos finds ocean carriers improved their electronic tools over the past three years and want to move rate and booking activity through their own online channels.

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.

Aircon, a technology provider aiming to bring a software-based co-loader approach to the air freight industry, has been backed by early-stage investors to drive planned aggregation of air cargo.

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.

Sustained demand on the trans-Pacific and limited capacity is pushing forwarders such as Kuehne + Nagel to lock in long-term air cargo charter commitments.

Strong demand and constrained air freight capacity on the Asia-US trade lane has prompted Flexport to secure a strategic agreement to increase access to space on the trans-Pacific.

The creativity of service providers is being tested as COVID-19 infections continue to spread around Asia and disrupt regional supply lines.

A strategic takeover by Xeneta will give shippers active in the volatile air freight market access to dynamic load factors, capacity, and rate information.

San Francisco-based Passport said it will use $39 million in new funding to expand its outbound parcel platform for US e-commerce sellers looking to manage logistics and trade compliance on international orders.

The air cargo digitalization momentum that built up through the last two years of the pandemic has accelerated, with a third of global air freight capacity now available through Freightos’ online booking platform.

Initially considered a temporary measure, some forwarders believe the shift from relying on fixed-price block space agreements with airlines to full charter operations has become permanent.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to hang over the air cargo business, and until regular international travel resumes, shippers will find space in tight supply and rates at elevated levels.

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.

The growth in air freight on the trans-Pacific to move auto parts, footwear, and apparel has been significant this year as US shippers try to circumvent the ocean congestion that is delaying imports from Asia.