Severe cuts in international passenger flights are putting a strain on the global airfreight sector, as most airfreight actually moves in the bellies of passenger planes.
Reuters is reporting that typical Europe to U.S. airfreight shipments are now being re-routed into Canada or Mexico, which adds time and cost to the shipments.
Ocean transport is an option is some instances. However, while it’s more cost effective, the extra transit time is unacceptable for many time-sensitive goods, such as urgently needed pharmaceutical ingredients and other critical cargoes.
One Germany-based logistics provider said the cost of direct airfreight services out of Europe to the U.S. are now priced between 5 to 10 euros per kilo, versus the less than 1 euro that used to be the norm.
