Airfreight rates down – but no switch from sea

Although air cargo rates on the SA air routes are definitely dropping, there has been no significant switch from sea to air transport because of this, according to FTW commentators. This followed an FTW investigation of the local airfreight market following a report in UK trade journal reported that air freight rates in Europe were “plummeting” – and smaller orders and the need to speed cash-flow were prompting some manufacturers of high-value finished products to switch from sea to air, especially on Asia- Europe routes. Was that the case here? That was obviously the question to ask. But in this case the answers were of the yes-and-no variety. Yes, said Tommy Reddy, an airfreight specialist at Röhlig Grindrod, rates were dropping. “But there has been no noticeable switch to airfreight from sea because of this – yet.” An airline, which is a major cargo carrier in and out of SA, said that rates were down. But not “plummeting”. And, although generally worldwide volumes were also dropping, this was not the case ex Johannesburg, where “we’re still flying fairly full”. Anthony Dawe, CEO of Bidfreight, was brief and to the point when quizzed about any sea-to-air switch. “Nothing I’ve noticed,” he told FTW. At Safcor Panalpina, another brief answer was forthcoming. Safcor executive, Charles Speed-Andrews, disagreed with that earlier airline feeling. “The volumes of air cargo in SA have dropped dramatically,” he said, while also noting that there were a number of companies that were not in too much of a hurry for cargo, and seafreight was their favoured option. Speed-Andrews is currently getting his team to work out some figures on rates and volumes, hoping to feed FTW with some sort of numerically-backed information on the situation.