Airfreight capacity in Europe is down 22% since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, aggregator Clive Data Services has found.
Moreover, that’s a week-on-week decline, the Dutch aggregator said, mainly due to the flight ban placed on Russia.
And, as expected, rates have up-ticked in an immediate reaction to the sanctions squeeze rippling out through the airfreight sector.
Diminished capacity from Japan to Europe has resulted in a 15% rates increase.
Out of Korea to Europe, a bellwether of risk ever since the invasion started, the freight rates have gone up 13%.
According to the Loadstar, even backhaul flights from Europe to Asia, usually empty, have seen increases of at least 5%.
For Japan and China, backhaul cargo rates increased 11% and 6% respectively.
The increases are in stark contrast to where demand was at the end of 2021, beginning of 2022, when markets eager to emerge from Covid’s Omicron wave stimulated upward momentum in the airfreight sector.
Demand now appears to be on the verge of nosediving, no matter that the post-Chinese New Year period usually adds enough impetus to sustain buoyancy.
However, because of the conflict in Ukraine, airfreight rates are trending up despite demand tapering off.
