Air freight rates from Asia appear to have peaked for now but will remain elevated for some time, with the constrained capacity and inflated ratesituationnot expected to change drastically in 2022, according to European freight forwarder Scan Global Logistics (SGL).
SGL’s latest Market Outlook Advisory highlighted that the recent online shopping sales season and the traditional Christmas rush have been causing constraints on most of the major trade lanes, with Asia to the US and Asia to Europe – as usual, the most impacted ones – having experienced a significant increase in rate levels. Other trade lanes, such as Europe-Asia, Europe-US, and Latin America, “remain under strong pressure too, albeit with a lower degree of rate increase impact”, the Denmark-based forwarder underlined.
It noted that recent weeks and months had highlighted the importance of airport cargo ground handling agents (GHAs), where Covid-related factors “across most airports have significantly impacted the industry, causing backlogs and bottlenecks to which there is no quick-fix solution. The cocktail of labour and equipment shortage, warehouse congestion, and increasing pick-up/delivery waiting times will continue to cause delays for the foreseeable future.”