Air freight rates continue to increase

Air freight rates continued to rise last week as weather conditions, volcanic activity and war put pressure on transport capacity.

Ảnh: ACI

Latest figures from TAC Index show the overall Baltic Air Freight Index rose 4.6% in the week to November 20 compared to the previous seven days.

The increase was led by China as rates in Hong Kong rose 11.5% from a week earlier and are now down 2.2% from a year ago.

Air freight rates from Shanghai increased 5.3% from a week earlier, down year-on-year to 1.3% “led by double-digit gains to Europe.”

“Rates from both Hong Kong and Shanghai to the US are now comfortably above where they were a year ago,” TAC said in its weekly report.

“The overall rise was driven largely by some big moves out of China, with capacity seemingly impacted by various events including heavy snowfall in Anchorage, disrupting TransPacific traffic, plus volcanoes and earthquakes elsewhere in addition to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.”

There have been thousands of earthquakes in Iceland in recent weeks as a volcano on the island is about to erupt.

In 2010, European air transport operations ground to a halt when the Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted in Iceland, spewing volcanic ash into the atmosphere, disrupting aviation.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific also reported problems with operations in Anchorage.

Cathay Pacific Southeast Asia cargo director Ashish Kapur said: “Our freighters are leaving our home hub full. Some, though, have been affected by disruption."

“Across the network, we’ve experienced more cancellations because of extreme weather over the past month, with heavy snowstorms in Anchorage.”

Last week, data provider WorldACD said rates were rising even though capacity remained stable compared to the previous week.

“Higher Asia Pacific to North America prices may have been partly inflated by operational disruptions caused by severe snow at Alaska’s Anchorage Airport,” WorldACD said.

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