[photopress:air_cargo_1.jpg,full,alignright]Airfreight is fast and reliable. It is, however, a lot more expensive than shipping. Air cargo carriers, particularly the North American and European airlines, are seeing long-haul cargo being diverted to ocean vessels.
Korea gives a good example of what can happen. Ken Choi, president of KAL Cargo, estimates that about 30% of Korean cell phone exports were shipped by sea last year. Traditionally, virtually all cell phone shipments went by air.
Steve Dearnley, chief operating officer for the Asia-Pacific region of Schenker said, ‘No question, we have seen a trend.’
Giorgio Laccona, chief executive officer of forwarder IJS Global, said, ‘Electronics still move by air, but more and more is going by ocean. The trend is just more noticeable with garments than with consumer electronics. We’re seeing buyers earlier in China now, trying to book block space for ocean. People are becoming more astute in their planning, and they have better technology to do it.’None of which augurs well for airlines which are heavily investing in cargo planes.
Source: CargoNews Asia
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