Although later than we experienced last year, the peak season for air freight shipments from the Far East recently got underway.

The annual squeeze on capacity is currently impacting movements from Hong Kong and mainland China, which is resulting in the inevitable rise in air freight costs.

The additional seasonal demand for retail and technological products, driven traditionally by Christmas and in more recent times the Black Friday and Monday sales, has resulted in a similar pattern each year.

This year, additional volume has been created by E-com, including double 11, and new  technology launches from the likes of Apple, Huawei and Samsung.

Last year’s ban on chartered flights, which followed the introduction of Hong Kong’s new IT system, has not been a contributing factor, as charter flights have been operating. However, access to flight slots has still been an issue at key airports and market airfreight rates have risen by around 30% so far.

Uniserve Airfreight Director – Leighton Bonnett – commented “While we are witnessing the impact of peak season, we have been able to maintain the movements of our customers cargo by utilising our Asian network and using increasingly reliable and competitive trucking across China”.

“We have minimised the impact as much as possible for our clients, although expectations are that the market will remain constrained well in to December”. 

Uniserve will continue to monitor the situation closely, for further information please contact your local Uniserve representative.

For more information on Uniserve’s airfreight services to and from Asia, or to find out more about the five times BIFA Airfreight Award winners, email info@ugroup.co.uk or call 01753 287900.

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