Air Cargo

Freight rate booking marketplace Freightos said its unprofitable business is seeing improving margins and that scale will help it past the breakeven point.

The post-pandemic recovery of China’s economy following the lifting of restrictions late last year is sparking increasingly optimistic expectations for the air cargo market in 2023 despite a challenging start to the year.

The container shipping industry’s profit margins are easing, but the appetite for acquisitions — from air cargo units to last-mile delivery logistics — isn’t letting up, writes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

Freight visibility provider Overhaul has acquired a competitor that doubles its size and gives it deeper cargo monitoring capability in Brazil, Mexico, and Central Europe.

The largest US logistics provider claims “compelling results” from cross-selling surface transportation and air and ocean services, despite weak market conditions.

Denmark’s DSV collected record profits for 2022, but the forwarder says a return to a more “normal” market has begun.

The traditional air cargo market slowdown has been exaggerated by an early start to the Lunar New Year and an unfavorable comparison with last year’s robust peak season.

Technology that connects and automates packages, trucks, and sorting facilities will come to the fore at UPS this year as the largest US logistics provider positions itself for an economic rebound.

Freightos’ public listing on the NASDAQ will be the first test of how public investors value one of the more prominent logistics technology companies to emerge over the past decade.

The need for forwarders to tether quoting and tracking in international freight modes to US surface modes has been highlighted by new offerings from ECU Worldwide and Freightos.

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.

Dismal November air cargo data has all but assured a weak end to 2022 with no sign of a seasonal uplift in demand or rate levels from an oversupplied market.

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.

Forwarder Kuehne + Nagel is receiving new freighter capacity as global demand wanes and rate levels tumble through a non-existent peak season.

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

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.