Welcome once more to the AirFreight.com blog for our regular look at recent important news stories and articles that are trending within the air freight and air cargo industry. It's been almost four weeks since we took our last look at some of the other facts, figures and opinions that help to build a better understanding of the overall health of the air freight industry today. Within each summary piece, you can click on the blue link(s) to read more.
Updates from the WCA Worldwide Forwarders Conference in Hong Kong included fairly intense positioning that suggested that more shippers and forwarders send their cargo via air service. Indeed, the ongoing U.S. port congestion is being used as a marketing method to encourage forwarders to diversify towards using air freight more frequently. The head of cargo at IATA, Glyn Hughes, went as far as encouraging shippers to factor air freight into their supply chains as a strategy to avoid the ocean side delays impacting the west coast. Read more at Joc.com
NAFTA freight movement reports between the US and Canada/Mexico show that while November recorded very modest growth of just 0.1% on the year, the 2014 data for the first eleven months of the year indicated robust 4.5% growth year-over-year. The spoils of this growth appear to primarily being awarded to the trucking sector although air freight from the US to Canada did show healthy growth in November. Full details of the latest report are at truckinginfo.com
Also related to the port slowdown is news that as many as 42 air freight charters have been booked out of Japan for February to lessen the strain caused by delayed ocean shipments. Causes cited include the delays in ports but also some massive automotive safety recalls that have resulted in the urgent need for parts, including airbags to be shipped by air so that distributors in the U.S.A. have the needed components to complete the required safety modifications. Learn more of the specifics at The Loadstar site.
Hong Kong International Airport HKG is currently under review for adding a third runway which is causing local debate. The air freight data alone seems to suggest that the airport needs further expansion to keep up with increasing demand as a record 4th quarter in 2014 saw the annual air cargo tonnage reach a staggering 1.8 million tonnes for the year - an increase on the year of almost nine percent. Read more about the growth at HKG at Joc.com
Hawaii is the subject of a very interesting article in Pacific Business News that concerns the potential problems being brought due to continued port issues having a greater impact on the islands and the readiness of the air freight sector to handle the strain this would create.
Global air cargo results ended 2014 in very positive territory as we wrote about recently on the Air Freight Blog and for those who really enjoy data and crunching numbers this article from ADS Advance in the UK is well worth a read.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has proposed a $1.3 million civil penalty against United Airlines. The penalty is for allegedly violating Hazardous Materials Regulations in more than 100 instances on both domestic and international flights. Get the full story at handyshippingguide.com
That essentially keeps us current but if you have stories you’d like to share or comments about any of these please get in touch via the comments section below, our Twitter account or Facebook page. You can also read volumes one, two, three four and five of Air Freight News updates to stay current.