The COVID-19 pandemic directly affected the global supply chain. Driven by consumers at home buying goods online for delivery to their front doors, the air cargo industry saw unprecedented growth.
However, along with the growth came constraints. It quickly became clear that the traditional air cargo gateways of JFK, ORD, LAX, ATL, and MIA were tragically understaffed and overly congested during the pandemic. When passenger travel was restricted and the corresponding belly/passenger air cargo lift removed, the world’s air cargo was routed by freight forwarders that used facilities at the traditional gateways that were already struggling under the weight of increased cargo and limited staff. As a result, services degraded, rates escalated, and customers paid the price.
While on the opposite end of the spectrum, regional air cargo gateways, including GSP, LCK, and RFD, performed strongly, maintaining service levels and predictability for their customers. During this time, a major forwarder found that cargo could be routed and recovered through GSP for their ATL facility faster than they could route and recover the cargo through the ATL gateway.
Today, commercial belly lift on passenger planes has not recovered to 2019 levels, and the Asia Pacific lanes are still one to two years from returning to pre-pandemic levels.
The next two years will be challenging for the air cargo industry, trying to manage double or higher growth in cross-border, e-commerce cargo volumes. This influx will continue to drive demand for alternative cargo airports, which offer expedited throughput to last-mile systems.
The competition for air cargo will drive new site selection and routing decisions and the smart forwarder or carrier will need to chart a course to the most competitive land-side locations.
What happens on the ground is what directly affects the success and predictability of an air cargo supply chain.