Newsletter - October2020

Centrolene
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Page: 8
Strong air freight demand ex-Asia
versus tight capacity drives up rates
Source: Lloyd’s Loading List
Date: 25 th September 2020
With hundreds of charters booked at ‘top dollar’ and a market that is
borderline sold out for the peak season on the transpacific, the market has
become ‘spot-rate driven’ and it has been a challenge to meet capacity
needs, forwarders report
As the peak season approaches, strong demand for air freight, especially out
of Asia, continues to come up against a shortage of capacity and more or less
the entire market is ‘spot’ rate driven, according to a senior executive at a
leading forwarder.
“While it would appear ex-China capacity is back to or even exceeding last
year’s levels, this has been mainly down to charter flights which, having
transported a rush of PPE from China earlier this year, are now carrying
regular air freight,” DSV’s head of Global Air Freight Procurement, Mads Ravn,
told Lloyd’s Loading List.
“However, obviously these flights are not accessible to the whole market but
only to specific forwarders or clients who have chartered the planes. Actual
capacity should be calculated on the basis of scheduled flights and while these
have increased, the reality is, capacity remains well down on the pre-COVID
period, forcing up rates.”
He continued: “New hi-tech product launches have pushed up charter pricing