Taiwan-based freight forwarder Dimerco is positive on the air cargo demand outlook for the rest of the year as it reports continuing e-commerce volume growth.
In a monthly market update, the forwarder said that in March e-commerce shipments were flooding airports in south China and expanding rapidly across other gateways in the country.
Also contributing to the soaring demand were challenges related to the ongoing Red Sea shipping crisis and labour strikes at Lufthansa, although it appears an agreement between workers and management has now been reached.
The forwarder said that as a result of the rising demand and market challenges, Block Space Agreements have this year been in demand.
"In March, airlines finalised their year 2024 Block Space Agreements (BSAs), with carriers reporting that all BSAs to the US and European Union destinations for the year are already sold out," the forwarder said.
Dimerco senior director global sales and marketing Kathy Liu added: “This surge in demand is fueled by the optimistic outlook for the e-commerce sector, which signals a promising trajectory for the airfreight market in 2024."
Dimerco said that space out of Guangzhou Baiyun and Shenzhen Bao'an was tight while the situation was more stable from other China origins, such as Shanghai and Hong Kong.
In Vietnam, backlogs are expected at both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh's main airports, the forwarder said.
Out of Taiwan, space is tightening: "The demand for transhipment cargo is increasing, causing a decrease in export space availability for Taiwan exports," explained Dimerco.
"Bookings for shipments from Taiwan to the US are fully booked until the end of March, driven by heightened shipments of e-commerce goods, AI chips, and servers at the end of February. Urgent shipments may require express rates."
The latest figures from data provider WorldACD also appear to back these findings.
For the two weeks ending March 24, demand out of the Asia Pacific region is up 12% year on year, while the Middle East and South Asia is up by 15%.
"Disruptions to Asia-Europe container shipping – caused by the attacks on vessels in the Red Sea – and strong e-commerce demand continue to bolster air cargo demand from those regions," WorldACD said.
https://www.aircargonews.net/data/air-cargo-demand-still-growing-after-lny-but-rate-of-improvement-slows/
