Upward Airfreight Rate Trend Continues: There has been no slowdown in rate increases ahead of Chinese New Year. West coast rates from China have jumped another $1.00/kg while at the same time East Coast rates increased by $2.00. You can now expect to pay from $8.15 to $8.55 per kg to destinations across the states.
We expect to continue to see rising rates through the holiday. In addition to the CNY-related space crunch, regional and carrier disruptions seem to be escalating as we move into February.
Space on the Market Drops Unexpectedly: Global airfreight capacity has fallen by 16% over the last two weeks, when compared to the same time period last year. The new Coronavirus strains have caused countries to place additional travel restrictions and, as a result, airlines have pulled back on flights. Most of the impact is on the European and Latin American trade lanes, Transpacific has yet to be significantly impacted.
Carrier/Country Updates:
- Hong Kong now requires arriving pilots to quarantine for 14 days which is expected to have severe consequences on air transportation. Cathay Pacific has stated that this policy would require them to shrink passenger demand by 60% and cargo capacity by 25%.
- Beginning this month, TAP Portugal is suspending a whopping 93% of their flights.
- New variant found in the Brazilian Amazon has forced many countries to prohibit travel to the country.