Airfreight

Growth in air cargo demand to decelerate in 2025, IATA says

Air cargo volume growth will be halved in 2025, but it will still be a good year for carriers behind continued ocean shipping delays, tight freighter capacity and strength in cross-border e-commerce, the International Air Transport Association forecast.

Cargo volumes are expected to reach 80 million tons, a 5.8% increase from 2024, the trade association said. Cargo demand this year has grown year over year between 10% and 13%, depending on whether it is measured by traffic (cargo ton kilometers)...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/growth-in-air-cargo-demand-to-decelerate-in-2025-iata-says

Maersk Q3 profits rise despite modest container volume gains

Higher freight rates more than offset modest container volume gains as A.P. Moller-Maersk saw revenue and profits improve in the third-quarter.

Ocean segment revenue increased to $15.8 billion in the quarter ended Sept. 30 from $12.1 billion in the year-ago quarter, the Copenhagen, Denmark-based parent of liner operator Maersk said in an earnings release. Earnings before interest and taxes of $2.8 billion reversed a loss of $27 million on disruptions to shipping from attacks by Yemen-based...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/maersk-q3-profits-rise-despite-modest-container-volume-gains

Expeditors reports both air and ocean tonnage up for first time since ’21

The first quarter at Expeditors International saw an increase in tonnage handled but a drop in revenues and an even bigger decline in the cost of acquiring transportation.

However, it also marked a milestone: It was the first quarter since the third quarter of 2021 when year-on-year tonnage increased for both airfreight and ocean freight. There had been year-on-year comparisons when airfreight grew in the interim but not for more than two years have both categories grown from the corresponding...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/expeditors-reports-both-air-and-ocean-tonnage-up-for-first-time-since-21

Air cargo industry faced stress test in 2023

The air cargo industry underwent a serious stress test in 2023 as collapsing market demand and rates dragged down revenues, forcing many all-cargo carriers to scale back operations, postpone aircraft investments and tighten budgets, before a late resurgence in volumes lifted offered hope for a better 2024.

The course correction from 2021, when airfreight business skyrocketed to record highs as businesses looked for ways to overcome broken supply chains during the pandemic, began in early 2022...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/air-cargo-industry-faced-stress-test-in-2023

Air cargo’s anemic peak season nothing to celebrate

Moderate strengthening of demand since August has buoyed the sagging air cargo market, but the seasonal surge in retail shipments for the holidays appears to be a third the normal level and more industry players are resetting expectations for a real recovery until the fall of 2024, or later.

Market intelligence provider Xeneta said airfreight volumes bumped up 2% in October from September and increased 2% year over year (y/y), but the sequential growth was subpar compared with peak seasons the...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/air-cargos-anemic-peak-season-nothing-to-celebrate

Wait for airfreight recovery could extend deep into 2024

Air logistics companies are grudgingly writing off the traditional peak season as weak macroeconomic conditions drag out the freight downturn longer than expected. Low rates will carry over into next year, even if demand eventually picks up, because many businesses are negotiating contracts to lock in low prices instead of shopping for one-time quotes when ready to ship, analysts say.

Airfreight remains mired at the bottom of a 16-month downturn and, by some measures, is worsening on the cusp of...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/wait-for-airfreight-recovery-could-extend-deep-into-2024

Price war keeps air cargo rates below natural level

Amid a burgeoning price war, pessimism is growing in air cargo circles that a market in prolonged recession could drift further downward, after a short pause, reducing the chance of a modest recovery during the traditional preholiday shipping rush.

Logistics professionals had hoped for an upturn by now that would steadily build into the second half, but that hasn’t happened. Freight forwarders and, increasingly, cargo airlines have responded by chasing volumes without regard to cost, which...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/price-war-keeps-air-cargo-rates-below-natural-level

Amerijet lays off workers as freight recession drags on

Amerijet International on Wednesday terminated more than a dozen employees because of sharply lower revenues associated with a prolonged slump in global air cargo demand that is beginning to materially hurt more freighter operators. 

The move comes on the heels of the company’s pilots on Friday ratifying a new three-year contract that raises their pay up to 45%, increasing expenses for the Miami-based all-cargo carrier at a time of shrinking sales. 

“Over the past several months, our company,...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/amerijet-lays-off-workers-as-freight-recession-drags-on

Optimism fades for airfreight recovery on slow-healing inventories

Since late last year, air logistics executives have engaged in wishful thinking that the protracted downturn in shipping demand would start to recover after the first quarter and build through the year once retailers cleared out excess inventories. That rosy scenario is fading.

Worsening indicators suggest the international freight recession hasn’t hit bottom and that the best outcome air cargo providers can hope for until October — typically the peak season for goods movement — is halting the...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/optimism-fades-for-airfreight-recovery-on-slow-healing-inventories

What to look for in a neutral NVOCC

Insights presented by Shipco Transport.

As technological innovations continue to accelerate, increasingly powerful digital solutions have made almost every aspect of the logistics industry’s supply chain businesses more efficient than ever before. 

Many would say this is a good thing for international transportation, a sector where technology and digital solutions power back-end operations, product offerings and powerful combinations of both hardware and software to support the movement of goods.

S...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/what-to-look-for-in-a-neutral-nvocc

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