SWISS forwarding giant Kuehne+Nagel (K+N) is continuing to experience strong air freight bookings despite the US-China tariff war, reports London's Air Cargo News.
Speaking following the announcement of the forwarder's second-quarter results, K+N International CEO Stefan Paul, said that air freight was 'continuously strong in terms of bookings'.
This is in contrast to sea freight, which has seen bookings out of China decline by around 25-30 per cent although much of that has been made up for by growing demand out of Southeast Asia.
'It might even be that the second quarter [for air freight] will be stronger than the first quarter in terms of the volumes,' Mr Paul said.
'To sum it up, flattish volumes in sea freight, very good trend in air freight continues with a high demand in the marketplace.'
Smartphones, routers, chipmaking equipment and certain computers and laptops are currently exempt from the US 145 per cent tariff rate on Chinese imports, although they do still face a previously announced 20 per cent rate.
On air freight yields, he said the outlook was less certain. He later explained that the US decision to end the de minimis exemption for packages from China could drive down e-commerce volumes and result in spare capacity in the market, which would in turn drive down rates.
SeaNews Turkey
Speaking following the announcement of the forwarder's second-quarter results, K+N International CEO Stefan Paul, said that air freight was 'continuously strong in terms of bookings'.
This is in contrast to sea freight, which has seen bookings out of China decline by around 25-30 per cent although much of that has been made up for by growing demand out of Southeast Asia.
'It might even be that the second quarter [for air freight] will be stronger than the first quarter in terms of the volumes,' Mr Paul said.
'To sum it up, flattish volumes in sea freight, very good trend in air freight continues with a high demand in the marketplace.'
Smartphones, routers, chipmaking equipment and certain computers and laptops are currently exempt from the US 145 per cent tariff rate on Chinese imports, although they do still face a previously announced 20 per cent rate.
On air freight yields, he said the outlook was less certain. He later explained that the US decision to end the de minimis exemption for packages from China could drive down e-commerce volumes and result in spare capacity in the market, which would in turn drive down rates.
SeaNews Turkey
