QUICK delivery Chinese fast-fashion firms Shein and Temu are disrupting traditional air cargo patterns as never before, making off-peak seasons disappear and causing capacity shortages in their wake, reports Reuters.
'The biggest trend impacting air freight right now is not the Red Sea, it's Chinese e-commerce companies like Shein or Temu,' said Basile Ricard, director of Greater China operations at freight forwarder Bollore Logistics.
Shein and Temu together send 600,000 packages to the United States every day, according to a June 2023 report by the US Congress - is boosting air freight costs from Asian hubs like Guangzhou and Hong Kong.
Shein, PDD Group's Temu and ByteDance's TikTok Shop, which recently began online shopping in the US, ship the majority of their products directly from factories in China to shoppers by air in individually addressed packages.
According to data aggregated by Cargo Facts Consulting, Temu ships around 4,000 tons a day, Shein 5,000 tonnes, Alibaba.com 1,000 tons and TikTok 800 tons.
'That equates to around 108 Boeing 777 freighters a day,' the consultancy said.
'When the Suez Canal crisis hit, there was no capacity to be bought, because e-commerce has bought it all,' said an executive at an air cargo carrier, who requested anonymity due to industry sensitivities.
Said Unique vice president Marc Schlossberg: 'Temu is looking to lease 12 wide-body freighters. They are scouring the market for any aircraft they can find.'
Shein and Temu are reportedly looking more at sea freight due to the high cost of air freight and considering opening warehouses outside of China to shorten transport times to other regions.
SeaNews Turkey
'The biggest trend impacting air freight right now is not the Red Sea, it's Chinese e-commerce companies like Shein or Temu,' said Basile Ricard, director of Greater China operations at freight forwarder Bollore Logistics.
Shein and Temu together send 600,000 packages to the United States every day, according to a June 2023 report by the US Congress - is boosting air freight costs from Asian hubs like Guangzhou and Hong Kong.
Shein, PDD Group's Temu and ByteDance's TikTok Shop, which recently began online shopping in the US, ship the majority of their products directly from factories in China to shoppers by air in individually addressed packages.
According to data aggregated by Cargo Facts Consulting, Temu ships around 4,000 tons a day, Shein 5,000 tonnes, Alibaba.com 1,000 tons and TikTok 800 tons.
'That equates to around 108 Boeing 777 freighters a day,' the consultancy said.
'When the Suez Canal crisis hit, there was no capacity to be bought, because e-commerce has bought it all,' said an executive at an air cargo carrier, who requested anonymity due to industry sensitivities.
Said Unique vice president Marc Schlossberg: 'Temu is looking to lease 12 wide-body freighters. They are scouring the market for any aircraft they can find.'
Shein and Temu are reportedly looking more at sea freight due to the high cost of air freight and considering opening warehouses outside of China to shorten transport times to other regions.
SeaNews Turkey
