THE air cargo market has undergone a fundamental shift to e-commerce over the last few months, which has helped support increases in airfreight rates.
Writing in the monthly Baltic Exchange newsletter, Neil Wilson of airfreight rate data provider TAC Index said that rates have been increasing over the last few months because of the impact of weather conditions and geopolitical developments but also because of rising e-commerce demand, reports London's Air Cargo News.
Mr Wilson said that strong levels of e-commerce business out of southern China have been an increasingly dominant feature of the market all year.
He pointed out that rates out of Hong Kong were holding up better than the global average.
TAC Index numbers show that in November the index of outbound routes from Hong Kong rose 19.2 per cent and was up 0.5 per cent year on year.
The index of outbound routes from Shanghai gained 25.4 per cent over the month and was ahead by 7.3 per cent year on year.
These improvements come despite general cargo demand remaining soft.
On other factors, affecting the market in November, Mr Wilson highlighted the Israel-Hamas conflict and snowstorms affecting the world's third busiest cargo hub, Anchorage.
From an air cargo market perspective, however, perhaps the most disruptive development was a prolonged period of record snowfall over several days in Anchorage, Alaska, he said.
If severe weather in Anchorage causes any significant delays or cancellations it can have knock-on effects, especially in peak season when finding extra capacity can be more difficult.
SeaNews Turkey
Writing in the monthly Baltic Exchange newsletter, Neil Wilson of airfreight rate data provider TAC Index said that rates have been increasing over the last few months because of the impact of weather conditions and geopolitical developments but also because of rising e-commerce demand, reports London's Air Cargo News.
Mr Wilson said that strong levels of e-commerce business out of southern China have been an increasingly dominant feature of the market all year.
He pointed out that rates out of Hong Kong were holding up better than the global average.
TAC Index numbers show that in November the index of outbound routes from Hong Kong rose 19.2 per cent and was up 0.5 per cent year on year.
The index of outbound routes from Shanghai gained 25.4 per cent over the month and was ahead by 7.3 per cent year on year.
These improvements come despite general cargo demand remaining soft.
On other factors, affecting the market in November, Mr Wilson highlighted the Israel-Hamas conflict and snowstorms affecting the world's third busiest cargo hub, Anchorage.
From an air cargo market perspective, however, perhaps the most disruptive development was a prolonged period of record snowfall over several days in Anchorage, Alaska, he said.
If severe weather in Anchorage causes any significant delays or cancellations it can have knock-on effects, especially in peak season when finding extra capacity can be more difficult.
SeaNews Turkey