The international air cargo market has seen rapid growth in orders for ocean-going vessels and all-cargo aircraft in the face of high demand, high freight rates and high cargo volumes, and air cargo capacity continues to be heavily operational as airlines restart passenger flights and freight operators launch new services between major markets in Asia, the United States and Europe.
In addition to the return to service of long-haul passenger aircraft with substantial belly cargo capacity to attract growing tourism business, several airlines, including Maersk, CMA CGM and the air cargo arm of Mediterranean Line, are adding freighters to major trade routes.
In response to increasing customer demand, Maersk Air Cargo has launched a scheduled service between Billund, Denmark and Hangzhou, China. The airline's internal routes will use recently modified Boeing 767-300 freighters with three flights per week and focus on high-value and time-sensitive cargo between Scandinavia, Northern Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Scheduled flights and controlled capacity air freight are an important part of the customer's end-to-end logistics needs.
CMA CGM Air Cargo increased its air cargo operations connecting Europe, Asia and the United States to 15 scheduled flights per week during the quarter.
and MSC began its round-the-world service after taking delivery of the first of four Boeing 777-200 freighters earlier this year and has expanded its focus beyond China, offering connections to Mexico City, Indianapolis and Seoul in addition to Xiamen.
In the current weak demand environment, with ample space for container shipping and very low costs, there is little urgency for Asian imports. Willie Walsh, Director General of IATA, said in a statement that while freight demand fell by 14.9 per cent in January and capacity grew by 3.9 per cent, there was a challenging business environment and continued uncertainty in 2023, but the outlook for air cargo remained cautiously optimistic.
The Baltic Air Index (BAI) shows trans-Pacific freight rates at $4.79 per kg, down 30% year-on-year, but nearly 40% higher than the March 2019 record. Central European prices were $3.71/kg, down 17% from last year, but up 30% from March 2019, while transatlantic westbound prices were $3.60/kg, down 25% year-on-year, but up 30% from 2019.
The extra space is hitting the market to weakening demand and a sharp drop in U.S. and European ocean freight rates and high inventory levels. World ACD, an air cargo analyst, wrote that global air cargo capacity rose 15% year-on-year in March, with double-digit growth rates in all regions. Despite the impact of the increase in fuel surcharges, this has pulled rates down from record levels in late 2021 and early 2022. But prices are still well above pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
summer schedule to increase capacity
expanding passenger connections to serve the fast-growing travel market is huge. Most international airlines have announced the addition of long-haul passenger flights ahead of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) summer schedule, which begins in the last week of March.
the dual-aisle long-haul aircraft used in these passenger services each have approximately 20 tons of under-deck belly cargo capacity, hub-to-hub connections are ideal for high-yield industries such as e-commerce, pharmaceuticals and other time-sensitive products.
Forwardernet.com