Episodes of exclusive TPM content featuring interviews of key stakeholders and attendees.
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The must-attend conference for the trans-Pacific and global container shipping and logistics community
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In the past five years, the periods without severe supply chain disruption can be measured in months. Getting cargo to destinations on the major ocean trade lanes out of Asia has been a nightmare for shippers struggling to find space on ships and paying enormous premiums for the privilege. When ocean is unavailable, cargo owners look to the air to move at least some of their products, but they again pay a heavy price. With disruption now such a regular part of global supply chains, there is too much going on for cargo owners to be surprised every time a shipment is delayed/rolled/allocation canceled/transit time extended, etc. In the new e-commerce-dominated air freight world, air cargo no longer can be an afterthought for traditional ocean shippers. Chinese e-commerce platforms such as Temu and Shein — and don’t forget Amazon, where 71% of products on its platform are made in China — are siphoning huge amounts of space from conventional air freight as they contract capacity directly from airlines and leave forwarders scrambling to find space for customers. This effectively kept air cargo in peak-season mode all through 2024. While there is much talk about lowering the generous US “de minimis” threshold under which no duty is paid, it is unlikely this will have any impact on e-commerce demand. Space constraints in air won’t just be a short-term problem with Boeing and Airbus unable to accelerate freighter production or even meet existing orders for new planes. In this session, expert speakers will look at the state of the air freight market and what cargo owners can expect in another tumultuous year for global supply chains. But crucially, the panel will explore what lessons cargo owners and forwarders can learn from their air cargo usage over the past year and whether permanent changes can be made in the way shipments by air are planned to avoid unpleasant surprises every time the ocean supply chain gets choked up.