Port operations on the US west coast have picked up steam since the debilitating congestion at the beginning of the year, resulting in the ongoing decline of Asia-US air cargo freight rates, data from Drewry shows.

Shippers have air cargo solutions built into their supply chains to avoid port delays or to expedite the shipment of products to market during peak periods, and those options were heavily used from November to March as the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex ground to a halt, Newark's Journal of Commerce reported.