Ocean Freight Issues Leading To High Air freight Demand

The ongoing difficulty in moving ocean freight from Asia is having a knock-on impact for air freight services from the region, as demand has continued to rise since the Red Sea crisis started.

As ocean freight disruption continues, due to low capacity, low equipment levels and port congestion, customers have been turning to air freight for some of their most urgent orders, which has resulted in a 13% increase in demand last month compared to June last year.

As a result, air freight rates have been rising steadily this year and are expected to rise significantly during the next few weeks in particular. The airfreight peak season will be upon us by the end of quarter three and there is a strong rumour that carriers will be applying peak season surcharges from August.

It's not just the ocean freight uncertainty that drives higher demand in quarters three and four. The continual rise of ecommerce ahead of the key sales seasons of Black Friday and Christmas, along with electronic product launches will also be adding to the upcoming high demand period.

Meanwhile, there are no signs that ocean freight schedules will be returning to the Red Sea in the short term future and demand is currently expected to continue to outweigh capacity until at least Golden Week in October.

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