Peak season has arrived with wartime costs attached. In this month’s Air Cargo Unpacked, Mike King and Neel Jones Shah ask whether there is still such a thing as a traditional peak season. They look at how soaring jet fuel prices are hitting airlines and shippers, and what the conflict in the Middle East means for air cargo, from the attacks on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport to container ships sunk in the Strait of Hormuz.
Neil Wilson, editor of TAC Index, calculating agent for the Baltic Air Freight Indices, takes us through the latest rates. Global rates are up 24.3% year on year, Hong Kong to US is far outpacing Hong Kong to Europe, and jet fuel is up 111% year on year.
Plus the outlook for peak season and 2027 from Elaine Low (Maersk), Peter Kerins (Magna Aviation), Henk Venema (DHL Global Forwarding), Simon Milne (Solent Freight Services), Peter Scholten (Air One) and Steven Polmans (Swissport). We also discuss the US midterms, and finish on the first flight of the Airbus A350F and the FAA exemption that lets Boeing keep building the 777F.
Also mentioned: Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Spirit Airlines, airBaltic, Lufthansa, IAG, Air France-KLM, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, Atlas Air, FedEx, Kalitta Air, the FAA, WorldACD, BIMCO, Air Cargo News, CNN and the Baltic Exchange.
Next week on the Freight Buyers’ Club: Bill Cassidy (Journal of Commerce) and Dean Croke (DAT Freight & Analytics) on the US domestic trucking market. Next month on Air Cargo Unpacked: David Shepherd, Managing Director, IAG Cargo.
Watch: Is Global Trade Fragmenting for Good? Customs, Tariffs and the New Rules of Importing: https://youtu.be/4s1XNmd5p6A
Read: Mike King in the latest issue of Cargo Airports & Airline Services (CAAS), on the Asia Pacific market (pages 4-10) and interviewing Robert van de Weg, CEO of Mexican carrier mas (pages 14-16): https://caasint.com/latest-issue/
Rates data courtesy of TAC Index and the Baltic Exchange. Produced by Karen Ball.
#AirCargo #PeakSeason #FreightRates #JetFuel #TACIndex #BalticExchange #FreightBuyersClub
