With more than 150 stations in over 17 countries, Dimerco connects Asia with the world like no other global 3PL. Every month, we gather firsthand market information from the industry players of our global network. Here's what you should know for March to April of 2023:
Air Freight
- Freighter service not fully resumed - Freighter service is not fully resumed as compared to the pandemic period, but passenger flights are expected to recover in the summer, especially for Intra Asia to Europe.
- US bans Chinese carriers flying via Russian airspace - The US is not allowing Chinese carriers to fly to US via Russian airspace, which will impact the recovery of passenger flight traffic between China and US. It is expected that belly capacity for this route will not recover quickly.
- eCommerce business surge in China to the US - There is a business surge for eCommerce from South China to the US since March. Business for auto parts and outdoor products from East China to Europe is growing, as well. The increasing demand, coupled with flight cancellations, led to an increase in rates by 40% - 50% for US and Europe destinations in Mar vs. Jan and Feb.
- International passenger flights move to Tianfu Airport Beginning March 26, 2023, all international passenger flights operating at Shuangliu Airport (CTU) will be transferred to Tianfu Airport (TFU). However, air freighters will continue to operate in Shuangliu airport (CTU)•The Cargo in Chengdu is mainly loaded on passenger flights as the freighter frequency is low ( Around 5 – 6 flights a week to US and Europe)
Ocean Freight
- Positive GDP outlook doesn't sync with manufacturing sector - Despite the positive GDP outlook, the global economy in the manufacturing sector didn’t sync with the healthier GDP forecasts in China and APAC. Inventory levels are still high, pushing off new orders and delaying the rebound of trade volumes by Q3. Although the rate drop has recently tapered, the SCFI composite index for all trades ex Asia by early March posted an 80% decrease vs. the same period in 2022, but still 5% higher vs the same period in 2020.
- Blank Sailing continues with sluggish trade volume - To cope with the sluggish trade volume, the year-to-date capacity withdrawn from the market stayed on the high side at 27%, with a forecast of an overall weekly pullout by 14% in the coming few weeks. Due to this, it is crucial to pay attention to the changes in the 2 key long haul-lanes (Asia/Transpacific and Asia/Europe). As fewer carriers are willing to remove their capacity by suspending their services outright, it is anticipated that most will continue to struggle with the same old blank sailing issues as those which were prevalent during the outbreak in the previous years.
