Against a background of International Air Transport Association’s (IATA's) estimated 9.3per cent growth in world cargo volumes for 2017, air freight rates have been dramatically up this peak season, according to AJOT.

While some rates have eased, others have strengthened. Most US airlines cancelled 7-10 scheduled flights from China between December 22-30, especially to Los Angeles, O’Hare and Dallas-Fort Worth. Russia’s AirBridgeCargo and China Southern Airlines also posted flight schedule cancellations on the China-US route. 

 

In Europe, intermittent bad weather has taken a toll, increasing backlogs and contributing to high air freight rates.

 

A typical Asia-Europe shipment on the spot market with flexible transit arrangements normally goes for around $2-5/kg. But over recent weeks, the new norm has become US$7-10/kg.

 

The same goes for Europe-US shipments. Shipments to JFK are normally between US$0.80 and US$1.30/kg, but recently they’ve been higher - in the US$5-10/kg band.

 

Ocean rates are up too, with mid-December GRIs having an effect on the transpacific lanes, for now.