Pressure on air cargo mounts as Red Sea crisis persists: WorldACD

The impact of the Red Sea conflict appears to be pushing ocean cargo to air freight. WorldACD stated over the past few weeks air cargo demand and rates from Asia Pacific origins “continued to soar well above last year’s levels”. The past two weeks show Asia-Pacific tonnages are up 20 per cent YoY and rates are 16 per cent ahead of the year-ago level. WorldACD stated there are some big variations between origins. This comes as ocean shipping—already under pressure due to the Red Sea crisis—has seen volumes and rates soar due to unseasonal capacity shortages and port congestion. “Shippers face shortages of air and ocean freight capacity due to strong demand and disrupted ocean freight services,” it stated. “Those disruptions to container shipping services, in part caused by the attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, have been exacerbated further in recent weeks due to port congestion and vessel capacity shortages in certain key markets, driving more cargo owners to air cargo solutions.”