Air freight sector is cautiously recovering from the corona crisis

9 July 2020

Over the past months, the airspace was almost exclusively used to transport medical aids. Luckily, this is changing. Because many European countries eased the corona measures over the past weeks, air traffic is increasing. Demand is rising, and more capacity is becoming available for consumer goods. This means that the sky-high air freight rates are finally starting to decrease.

Slow recovery of the air freight rates and capacity to a “normal” level

By now, many countries are at long last coming out of lockdown. In May, this led to a doubling in the number of cargo flights at Schiphol compared to previous months. Air freight may not be at its old level, but an increasing trend is definitely visible. The market for consumer goods is recovering again.

This means air freight rates will likewise move to a normal level again. During the height of the crisis, these rates were sometimes no less than 500% (!) higher. By now, the demand for transport of protective clothing, such as face masks, has decreased. In addition, the increase in passenger flights is resulting in more cargo capacity for consumer goods. This all results in decreasing rates, even though they are still higher than usual.

Freight transport always takes priority

With the absolute breakthrough of the coronavirus in Europe, the enormous consequences for the transport sector were impossible to predict. Especially air freight was hit hard. There was barely any capacity and the rates were sky high. Fortunately, we worked with our agents to find solutions to transport goods from A to B after all.

For example, we managed to transport a significant number of air freight shipments from China via sea-air transport. In addition, we also arranged lots of freight transport by railway via the New Silk Road. This last method of transport was and still is very popular among our shippers, primarily because railway transport is very reliable and sustainable. The positive experiences gained this way will undoubtedly result in the increased use of both transport solutions in future.

More information

Do you have any questions about the current situation in the air freight sector? Please contact Team Ritra Schiphol.

Do you want to know more about the possibilities for FCL and LCL railway transport from China to the Netherlands? Or would you like information on our sea-air options? Chantal, Daisy, Marjo, Patty and Martijn of Team Ritra Sales are happy to tell you more about this!