SA airfreight cargo escapes China backlogs

Although a surge of late prefestive
season airfreight bound
from China to Europe and
the US is creating significant
backlogs at cargo terminals in
China’s main cargo airports,
SA-bound shipments are as yet
unaffected, says Nely Kusmin,
SAA Cargo’s Thailand-based
regional manager for Asia
Pacific & the UAE.
This build-up at the likes
of Beijing, Shanghai, Hong
Kong and Guangzhou went on
all last week, and is expected
by airfreight forwarders to
continue this week.
Delays for uplift are about
3-4 days on a ‘first-class
carrier’. And airlines’ winter
timetables have made space
so tight that some airlines are
offering a “you get what you
pay for” package with “VIP
rates” for quicker uplift.
Most of those looking for
cargo space to Europe and the
US are finding “fully booked
and utilised” emblazoned
across capacity schedules.
Kusmin acknowledged
the high demand to Europe
and US at the moment. But
it doesn’t interfere with SAA
Cargo’s business activities in
China, as it doesn’t carry this
traffic out of China.
And, in general terms,
SA-bound airfreight shipments
from China are still running
smoothly – for the moment.