Air Cargo

With global capacity unable to meet current demand, air cargo’s next challenge will be to find enough capacity to handle any massive rollout of a COVID-19 vaccine.

By launching a door-to-door, less-than-truckload business in Savannah, Forward Air is adding more freight and building density in its airport-to-airport network.

There were encouraging signs for air cargo in June, but uncertainty over demand patterns and available capacity is clouding the industry outlook through the summer.

While the urgent demand for medical supplies is waning and air freight rates are coming off record highs in May, market fundamentals are likely to keep prices above last year’s levels.

Softening demand for medical supplies as some countries build inventory and get on top of coronavirus infections has reduced the urgency of shipments and cut air cargo rates in half since mid-May.

Freighters and converted passenger craft are taking longer to unload than belly freight and some ground handlers are understaffed after furloughs and layoffs in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Air cargo prices have begun to decline from the mid-May highs, but with the withdrawn passenger belly freight unlikely to make a rapid comeback, rates will remain well above last year’s levels.

Air freight carriers are reporting high load factors on trades between Europe and the US, as falling demand continues to outstrip the available capacity.

While air freight demand for medical supplies is expected to fall starting in mid-June, it remains unclear how much of that volume will be replaced by rising consumer demand and whether there will be enough capacity to carry the cargo.

The acquisition of ScanData gives Transplace broader supply chain reach as the COVID-19 pandemic accelerates e-commerce demand.

The urgent need for medical equipment is beginning to slow as countries begin to emerge from COVID-19 lockdowns, with rates falling as airlines make more use of passenger planes for all-cargo flights.

As countries across Europe and North America begin to emerge from lockdowns that in some cases have been in place since early March, attention in the air cargo industry is shifting to the recovery phase.

The number of passenger planes flying in all-cargo roles has risen past 1,200 as carriers try to utilize their grounded fleets and generate revenue amid coronavirus-driven travel bans.

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

Combining FedEx’s logistics network with Microsoft’s AI, machine-learning, and cloud-computing capabilities, the companies plan to offer much more granular, near-real-time visibility for entire supply chains, as well as individual shipments.

The PPE filling all available air cargo capacity is manufactured by the millions of units in China, and even though the cost of producing the protective equipment has increased sharply, that cost can still be measured in cents and fractions of cents.

Global demand for medical supplies has not let up, but stricter customs rules are leading to lengthy delays at Chinese hub airports.

The lack of available belly capacity on the major east-west trades amid sustained and heavy demand continues to ramp up rates for essential cargo shipments.

Traditionally low air freight margins are being further depressed by fierce competition among forwarders to secure limited capacity, with travel bans grounding most of the passenger fleet on east-west trades.

The largest US logistics provider is prioritizing technology spending as the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates why more automation and digitization is needed.

Even when air cargo demand for urgent medical supplies drops off, there is no certainty that recession-hit consumers will resume spending, and if they do, capacity will still be tight as passenger fleets remain grounded.

The COVID-19 pandemic has flipped UPS’s business, with nearly 70 percent of package volume now residential. That means more mileage, more stops, and more costs.

Air freight capacity is struggling to keep up with soaring demand for medical equipment from coronavirus-hit Europe and the US that will keep China factories open through the Labor Day holidays.

There is no sign yet of falling demand for essential medical equipment that is behind the steep rise in air cargo rates, but the revenue-crushing loss of passenger traffic has airlines fighting for survival.

Air freight forwarders are attempting to navigate the pandemic-driven economy, but the lack of business has resulted in sharp revenue declines and layoffs, and may cause widespread consolidation in the sector.

A shortage of protective medical equipment and limited air cargo capacity to supply hospitals is ramping up China-Europe air freight prices.

Tightness in air cargo capacity is unlikely to ease as the global spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) increases demand for medical supplies and perishables.

FedEx expands use of its US ground unit to deliver more air express packages, as e-commerce volumes swell and Amazon ups the competitive ante.

Airlines are using their empty passenger aircraft as cargo planes amid widening COVID-19 travel bans across the globe that have cut huge amounts of belly cargo from service.

The logistics software provider Freightos is the latest to react to an uncertain freight market by cutting staff, a move the company attributes to the effect the coronavirus disease is having on supply chains and the financial ecosystem.

The travails of crab shippers underscore the larger impact COVID-19 is having on North American exporters that face higher outbound air cargo rates because of the removal of belly cargo capacity on passenger jets due to cancellations tied to the disease.

International air cargo rates are rising fast on the trans-Atlantic trade ahead of the 30-day US travel ban affecting 26 of Europe's largest economies, which will severely constrain belly cargo space on the busy trade lane.

The sudden US travel ban imposed on 12 European countries will hurt an air freight industry still battling to overcome the loss of belly cargo capacity from the suspension of passenger flights to China.

The financial hit to airlines in their battle to withstand a rapid drop in cargo and passenger revenue will be enormous, according to the industry trade association IATA.

Difficulties transporting cargo in and out of China and fast-rising air charter rates are pushing shippers and their forwarders towards multimodal services.

The freight rate marketplace provider Freightos will include an option for shippers to add FedEx customs brokerage services on-demand as part of a broader deal between the two companies that also includes FedEx’s use of Freightos’ air cargo pricing and booking tools.

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.

With no belly cargo available for flights to China, demand for chartered freighter capacity has risen sharply, along with air freight rates, as relief aid and medical supplies move to the country amid the coronavirus outbreak.

A survey of delivery drivers projects that missed deliveries and time wasted due to outdated and incorrect maps and navigation aids results in $2.5 billion in added costs.

The air cargo business has just reported its worst performance in a decade, and now hopes for a possible recovery in 2020 are in doubt due to China’s coronavirus outbreak.