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No airfreight glut here, says Midlands forwarder

[ January 8, 2020   //   ]

West Midlands forwarder Millennium Cargo says that it has had difficulty finding space for its customers, despite a recent report by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) saying that airfreight demand had seen a prolonged decline over the past year.

Chief executive Chadd Blunt said that air freight remains an integral component to the industry as many market sectors rely on shorter lead times. He commented: “Whilst figures from the IATA indicate a global decline in air freight Millennium Cargo is experiencing the recurring trend of customers consistently requesting to ship via air and space becoming more difficult to locate.”

He added: “Everybody is battling for space so every freight forwarder is experiencing similar issues in finding capacity. Services have been reduced and aircraft have been changed, along with their routes which in turn increases the difficulty of placing freight quickly. The reduction in services has also resulted in a pecking order for volume that is affecting forwarders throughout the globe.

“Whilst Millennium Cargo will not be alone in the struggle to find space on air freight, we will ensure to do our upmost in making sure that our customers’ cargo reaches its final destination with minimum delay and in the most cost-effective manner possible.”

In its latest report, IATA said that demand decreased by 1.1% in November 2019, compared to the same period in 2018, the 13th consecutive month of year-on-year declines in freight volumes.
But despite this, November’s performance was the best in eight months, with the slowest year-on-year rate of contraction recorded since March 2019. In part, it reflects the growing importance of large e-commerce events such as Singles Day in Asia and Black Friday.
While international e-commerce continues to grow, overall air cargo demand continues to face headwinds from the effects of the trade war between the US and China, the deterioration in world trade, and a broad-based slowing in global economic growth.

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