Demand ex-China remains very strong even after the end of China’s early May holiday period, leading to delays at PVG and CKG airports.
Airport congestion is slowing the growth of China’s outbound air capacity, with demand ex-China remaining very strong even after the end of China’s early May holiday period.
According to the latest air freight market update today from forwarding and logistics group Agility, based on data from Seabury Consulting, the airports most affected by congestion are Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) and Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport (CKG), with other Asian airports not as severely affected.
Lloyd’s Loading List reported last week that the huge demand for PPE, face masks and other medical equipment that has been driving air freight demand from China, and looks set to persist for several more months, was contributing to congestion at Chinese and European airports, exacerbated by limited capacity and strict new Chinese export controls, although the congestion in China had been expected to ease as the month progressed. According to freight forwarding and air cargo sources, there has been congestion for several weeks at key export cargo airports in China, notably at Shanghai Pudong Airport, that worsened in the days leading up to China’s early May holiday period, with some also highlighting Guangzhou, Zhengzhou, Shenzhen and Xiamen airports.
And the high levels of import demand have also led congestion at certain import gateways, with some highlighting Europe’s largest cargo airport Frankfurt as facing particular challenges in the last few weeks, although cargo handlers at other airports were also caught out in the second half of April.
According to fresh data from Seabury, overall global air cargo capacity is currently around 28% below the levels for the same week in 2019. Transpacific cargo capacity is “flat” compared with last year, but capacity between Asia and Europe remains 10% below 2019 capacity levels.
Seabury says North America-Latin America capacity is nearly back to 2019 levels, with outbound Latam-North America freighter capacity compensating partly for the loss of widebody belly capacity, which is down 80% from 2019 levewls, Seabury said.
Global widebody belly capacity remains 75% below 2019 levels, despite a 10% increase over the previous week, Seabury estimated, with widebody belly capacity increases driven by increases in the number of active aircraft – with B777-300 and B787-9 aircraft the most popular passenger freighters being introduced – and higher utilisation rates of aircraft.
It estimated that global freighter capacity is currently around 13-19% higher than the same week in 2019, with freighter capacity “close to maximum” and freighter utilisation rates reaching “record highs”. Grounded B747 freighters have been brought back into service by carriers including CargoLogicAir and Atlas Air, and KLM revived its combi aircraft as part of the massive global airlift campaign that has put air freight centre stage in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic – as it will also be in the economic recovery.
It has been reported that more than 100 passenger airlines have begun operating ‘passenger freighters’. For example, Emirates has been back flying close to 100 cargo fights a day in May, using a combination of its 11 Boeing 777 freighter aircraft and around 60 of its Boeing 777-300ER passenger aircraft as dedicated cargo aircraft, as it continues to rebuild its global cargo network following the shutdown of most of its passenger flights.
And there has been mass ‘passenger freighter’ programmes gradually building and expanding from most airline groups, now including hundreds of flights each month from carriers including American Airlines, United, Etihad, Cathay Pacific, IAG, Lufthansa and Swiss – including carrying cargo on the passenger decks of aircraft, in many cases.
Although some airlines have announced plans to resume some of their grounded passenger services from this summer, it is expected that airlines’ passenger freighter programmes will continue for some time – alongside very a busy programme of freighter operations, as air freight operators continue to play a vital role in the medical and economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Source: Lloyd´s
