The News
The Baltic Air Freight Index, compiled by TAC Index, rose 4.7% in the week to Oct 19 and stood 26.4% above a year earlier, topping the highest points of the last two peak seasons, according to Air Cargo News.
TAC said the fuel surge will “put a hard floor under rates at which airlines will carry cargo.”
Jet fuel prices were up 113.7% year over year, per IATA’s Jet Fuel Price Monitor.
The details
The biggest gains came on the busiest lanes out of China. Rates to Europe rose less.
Rates from China to the US posted a strong week-over-week increase, TAC said, while China to Europe gained less and has lagged since July.
Freightos’s air index had China to North America up 19% in a week to $6.88 per kg, with its global benchmark 30% above a year earlier, per its weekly update.
Tonnage has slipped for three weeks as rates climbed.
WorldACD put the global spot rate at $3.55 per kg in the week of Oct 5, up 34% year over year, while tonnage fell 1% for a third straight week, per STAT Times. Tonnage was still 9% above a year earlier.
Global capacity fell 1% on the week. Gulf capacity sits 20% below late-February levels.
Outbound from North America and Europe, rates were mixed, TAC said.
Frankfurt outbound fell 6.6% on the week but was 33.7% above a year earlier, per TAC. London Heathrow fell 2.3% and was up 35.2%.
North America outbound rates were mostly firmer to China, the rest of Asia and South America, led by southbound routes from Miami, TAC said.
What’s next
Air freight’s peak usually runs ahead of Thanksgiving and Christmas, TAC noted. The index updates weekly.
