By Ashley Kao      photo : Pixabay

The air freight was about 13 to 15 times of the ocean freight before the pandemic, but now its 3 to 5 times higher than ocean freight.

According to the report, “Ty” manufacturer of Beanie Babies that has been popular in North America for many years. It has chartered more than 150 flights between China and the US in the past month and a half, which transported the toys to the US and successfully bypassing US ports’ congestion. Taking off from many locations of China and arriving in Chicago on time, the cost of each flight is about 1.5-2 million US dollars. Ty is not the only company that chose air freight to avoid troubles in transportation before the holidays.

The current air freight rate is on average about 2.5 times higher than before the pandemic. On the main routes, such as China – US, Southeast Asia – US, the rate is five times higher than the average freight rate during the peak season before the pandemic.

One of the reasons for the transportation from sea to the air is that the demand for goods has increased. Because of the economic stimulus policies, people have more disposable income, and they spent most of it on commodities. However, the manufacturing industry has encountered difficulties and labor shortage, which has caused inventories to be unable to keep up. From the conditions of over 80 container ships waiting for birth last week, the carriers and the ports have been overwhelmed by backlogs and cargo delays. In addition, air freight can make up for the lost time cost. For easy corrupt food and high-value commodities, air transportation is the only way of it. But for many retailers who are worried about the shortage of holiday goods, they try to make up for the time lost by air shipping. The freight rate for 40ft from China to West coast of the US is as high as USD 20,000, which has reached 10 times the amount before the pandemic. This doesn’t include the local cost of the transportation from ports to all country.

International air Transport Association and experts compared the cost of air and ocean rate, air freight rate before the pandemic was 13 – 15 times higher than ocean freight, but now its only 3 – 5 times higher than ocean freight. The advantage of low-cost of ocean freight rates are not as obvious as before. This is a factor for many cargo owners to choose air freight. The character of freight transport has changed, with persistently high volumes becoming the new normal for both scheduled and charter traffic.

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