TRANSATLANTIC westbound air freight volume increased 25 per cent in March year on year as worsening seaport congestion on the US east coast induce American importers to accept the expense and resort to the air freight.
'With declining schedule reliability of ocean liners, logistical departments will resort to air freight because of disruptions to their supply chains,' said Niall van de Wouw, chief air freight officer at Xeneta.
US east coast ports have been coping with congestion for the past year, leading to backlogs outside the ports of Charleston, Savannah, New York and New Jersey and Virginia.
Sustained consumer demand is filling ships from Europe as shippers divert Asia-US cargo from the clogged US west coast ports to the east coast. Some carriers are even re-routing some Asia-US services via the Suez Canal to the east coast.
The incoming volume is overwhelming terminals. Sea-Intelligence Maritime Analysis data shows record-low schedule reliability and delays of just over 10 days off east coast ports and shippers' time-sensitive products cannot wait.
Kuehne + Nagel said there was a direct correlation between the shift to air and the sea freight market where congestion was delaying cargo entering through the US east coast ports. Container lines were also repositioning containers back to Asia, especially reefer boxes.
'This has forced a number of shippers with very defined lead times to shift their goods from sea freight to air freight,' said K+N. 'This leads to growth in temperature-controlled shipments as well as growth in industries that might not normally ship by air, such as the automotive companies.'
SeaNews Turkey
'With declining schedule reliability of ocean liners, logistical departments will resort to air freight because of disruptions to their supply chains,' said Niall van de Wouw, chief air freight officer at Xeneta.
US east coast ports have been coping with congestion for the past year, leading to backlogs outside the ports of Charleston, Savannah, New York and New Jersey and Virginia.
Sustained consumer demand is filling ships from Europe as shippers divert Asia-US cargo from the clogged US west coast ports to the east coast. Some carriers are even re-routing some Asia-US services via the Suez Canal to the east coast.
The incoming volume is overwhelming terminals. Sea-Intelligence Maritime Analysis data shows record-low schedule reliability and delays of just over 10 days off east coast ports and shippers' time-sensitive products cannot wait.
Kuehne + Nagel said there was a direct correlation between the shift to air and the sea freight market where congestion was delaying cargo entering through the US east coast ports. Container lines were also repositioning containers back to Asia, especially reefer boxes.
'This has forced a number of shippers with very defined lead times to shift their goods from sea freight to air freight,' said K+N. 'This leads to growth in temperature-controlled shipments as well as growth in industries that might not normally ship by air, such as the automotive companies.'
SeaNews Turkey
