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Ex-Asia rates increase due to 'front loading' - Xeneta
- Latest News
- Sunday, 19 May 2024
Freight data analyst Xeneta says ocean rates from Asia to Europe currently cost 198 per cent more year on year and from the Far East to the US west coast there has been a 214 per cent increase.
Xeneta chief airfreight officer Niall van de Wouw said there may be limited impact on airfreight, because much of the increase was caused by shippers preparing for possible disruption in the shipping peak season rather than an urgent rush to move cargo.
Shippers are front loading, anticipating a capacity squeeze in the peak third quarter, he said.
“They are moving inventory around - and if that is delayed a little bit, you don’t need airfreight to compensate for that.”
The result may even be 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.
