Two months ago, when we prepared for the final weeks of the peak, everybody was weighing in as to what we should expect. There were different schools of thought, but at the end everybody was correct. How so? It ended up as a total chaos. Delays, high rates, no capacity, then suddenly excessive capacity on some routes. Some airlines were very hard to be able to get hold of while others kept calling looking for more freight.

That is so last year. So, what about 2022?

The port congestions remain an issue according to Shipco’s congestion tracker. Additionally, the Chinese New Year is less than a month away – January will be busy.

Now pair that with a lot of flight cancelations. This is due to limited passengers due to Covid regulations, or there is no flight crew to fly the plane because of Covid. During the last week more than 10,000 flights have been canceled due to Covid. Although most of these flights were narrow bodies which do not carry a lot of cargo. However, every time a widebody is cancelled – 15,000 to 20,000kgs of capacity is canceled too.

How to deal with this?

As always, the best paying shipment flies. Freight booked at general rates will be rolled in favor of priority/express bookings. If you have shipments with an urgent deadline, please let us know so we can search for the best options for you.

If you use our online rate engine, Air2Z, to rate your shipment then look for express rates on the drop-down options and/or take advantage of receiving a spot rate when prompted on the screen