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DISRUPTION to container shipping operations out of Asia has unexpectedly worsened over recent weeks but the development is expected to have limited impact on air cargo.
The last few weeks have seen the return of port congestion and container shipping capacity shortages out of Asia push up ocean freight rates, according to London's Air Cargo News.
Figures from analyst Xeneta show that ocean rates from Asia to Europe are currently up 198 per cent year on year and from the Far East to west coast US there is a 214 per cent increase.
DSV said that the significant development had caught most by surprise. However, while capacity shortages and port congestion in ocean shipping often result in rising airfreight demand, Xeneta chief airfreight officer Niall van de Wouw said there may be limited impact on airfreight this time.
He explained that in Xeneta's view, much of the surge in demand was caused by shippers preparing for possible disruption in the shipping peak season rather than an urgent rush to move cargo.
"We think that the spike in rates on the ocean side is caused by shippers front loading in anticipation of a capacity squeeze in the third quarter, which is the shipping peak season," he told Air Cargo News.
If that is the case, then it is a safety measure and not so much an urgency measure which I think will have limited impact on airfreight.
They are moving inventory around and if that is delayed a little bit, you don't need airfreight to compensate for that.
He added that the move may even result in less supply chain urgency in the final part of the year.
If they are moving peak season cargo now, it means that they will have quite a bit of inventory at destination which would restrict the need for urgent airfreight shipments because they will have the inventory at a higher level than they would normally have to avoid a potential capacity crunch, he said.
https://shippingazette.com/
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