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Forwarders hit by airfreight backlogs at key China airports, including Hong Kong

KEY cargo airports in China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Guangzhou, are facing airfreight backlogs which could drag on for a while as manufacturers rush to get their products to Europe and the US.

In addition, the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration has imposed on airports in Shanghai, Tianjin and Shenyang on the addition of charter capacity, extra flights or new lane applications as a direct result of poor punctuality rankings among the 48 airports in China. This restriction has further compounded backlogs primarily in Shanghai, according to media reports.

France-based logistics company SDV echoed comments from US logistics firm Expeditors last week, which had highlighted a surge in demand, leading to cargo building up at some Asian airports.

Ex-Beijing, the French forwarder said that existing block space agreements (BSAs) for its regular key account customers had been fully booked last week, while SDV had "experienced some offloads on BSA carriers due to space reasons and winter schedules," the Lloyd's Loading List reported.

SDV said ad hoc rates were higher than on its BSAs, while the backlog situation ex-Beijing had remained unchanged last week at 3-4 days uplift after cargo delivery.

commenting on the outlook, SDV said: "Demand remains unchanged and we are hoping there is no big change next week capacity-wise." As for the situation ex-Shanghai, SDV's BSA capacity was fully booked and utilised by existing customers. "For all other accounts, ad hoc market solutions have been at market rate," the company said.

But the current backlog at Pudong warehouse was making it difficult to ensure uplift on time. "We expect the situation to remain tight next week with rates unchanged on the current week," SDV added.

Meanwhile, ex-Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and Xiamen, SDV's BSA capacity "was fully booked and utilised".

CEVA Logistics COO for global airfreight and ocean freight, Helmut Kaspers said: "Compared to previous years, 2015's peak season is strong in terms of air freight volumes, but shorter in duration as it is very much concentrated on a few weeks this year. We expect the situation to become easier within the upcoming weeks with volumes returning to normal levels before the Christmas holidays."

Meanwhile, Lufthansa Cargo revealed that it had seen increased demand, starting last week and had also operated some extra sections, especially out of Asia. "The main demand has come from Asia to Europe but also to the US," a spokesman said. "We've operated charters as well as increased a number of scheduled services."

However the prolonged strike by Lufthansa cabin crews last week had seriously hit the airline's passenger schedules and had taken out about 50 per cent of the German cargo carrier's capacity, limiting its ability to respond to ex-Asia cargo surge.