Global News Demand soars for Asia-Europe sea-air option to avoid Africa transit

Asia-Europe sea-air hubs are booming as shippers with urgent cargo take the multimodal approach to avoid the extended transit times from vessels sailing around southern Africa.

Air cargo volumes from Dubai to Europe in the past week were up 7% from the previous week and more than 200% higher than this time last year, according to data from air freight analyst WorldACD.

“Certain key Asia-Europe sea-air hubs such as Dubai, Colombo and Bangkok have experienced exceptionally high air cargo demand to Europe since the start of this year, in large part linked to the disruptions to Asia-Europe container shipping caused by the attacks on vessels in the Red Sea,” the Netherlands-based analyst said Friday.

Dubai continues to be one of the more popular destinations for European importers with time-sensitive cargo, with the airport able to covert ocean freight transferred from Jebel Ali seaport to air cargo in 24 hours.

“Dubai-Europe tonnages have been particularly strong, at more than double their level in recent weeks compared with this time last year, and the continuing surge in week 10 indicates this trend is showing no signs of weakening four weeks on from the Lunar New Year,” WorldACD noted.

The sea-air option through Dubai saves up to 40% compared with direct air freight transport from Asia and is faster than ocean.

Other sea-air trade lanes are also reporting a strong rise in volume. Bangkok-Europe demand was up by more than 30% year over year in the past week, boosted by road-air volume trucked down from Vietnam and other origins in the region.

WorldACD noted that the surge in Colombo-Europe demand appears to be softening but remains up 20% year over year and has risen 80% since mid-February.

Air freight charter operators are also reporting a surge in business since ocean carriers diverted around the Cape of Good Hope.

“The Red Sea attacks are causing a lot of time-sensitive traffic to switch to airfreight,” Neo Air Charter general manager Brian Davis said in a statement Friday. “We haven’t seen demand like this since the early days of COVID,” he added. ‘Booming’ e-commerce drives capacity push From a global perspective, air freight volume increased 11% year over year in both January and February with rates continuing to trend upward even through the traditional post-Lunar New Year market slowdown, according to Niall van der Wouw, chief air freight analyst for Xeneta.

“It’s a surprising start to the year from a volume perspective, and not something people would have expected, ourselves included, with demand much higher than it was a year ago,” van der Wouw said in a statement, adding that it was unusual to see rates increasing at this time of year.

“This is likely related to the Red Sea disruption, but this is not the only factor,” he added. “Trends indicate more consumers are buying on e-commerce platforms and the intercontinental nature of these businesses, as well as the speed with which they are expected to deliver, is benefiting air cargo.”

Van der Wouw said e-commerce now makes up over 50% of the revenue from East Asia for some air cargo carriers.

Forwarders in China report large e-commerce platforms or marketplaces such as JD.com, Alibaba, Shein or Temu buying up huge amounts of air freight space out of China to North America, which has kept rates elevated.

“The booming e-commerce sector is continuing to help air cargo demand to trend above growth in both trade and production since the last quarter of 2023,” Willie Walsh, secretary-general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said in a statement on the latest air freight data.

Average air cargo spot rates from Shanghai to North America this week reached $4.55 per kilogram, up 7% from last week, according to the Baltic Air Index (BAI), despite air freight capacity rising steadily as increasing long-haul passenger travel adds below deck cargo space.