The latest airfreight data – covering the week up to July 27 – calculated by TAC in the form of the Baltic Air Freight Index (BAI00) suggests that global airfreight rates are now 16.8% up on the same time a year ago.

This represents a strong year on year increase and, while there have now been five consecutive weekly falls in worldwide airfreight rates, the weekly figure for the seven days up to July 27 was down just 0.6%.

Last week’s slight fall in rates came at a time of renewed conflict in the Middle East and consequential volatility in global energy and jet fuel markets, and it is understood that various factors are keeping rates subdued.

These range from additional passenger service bellyhold capacity becoming available during the summer holidays and the fact that carriers were better prepared for market shocks than when they were taken by surprise in March.

Rates on the busiest lanes out of China to Europe have continued to fall week on week, though there was little change last week in rates to the US. BAI spot rates out of Hong Kong, Shanghai and India also firmed up
on transpacific lanes, while falling to Europe.

From South and Southeast Asia, rate patterns were similar, with rates to Europe mostly falling except for a spike on lanes from Bangkok.

From North Asia, after big gains this year driven by the booming AI/semiconductor sector, rates were lower on many routes both to the US and to Europe from Seoul and from Taiwan. But there was a rise in rates from Japan to Europe.

From Europe, rates mostly fell week on week across the board, including on the busiest transatlantic lanes to the US as well as to China, Japan, India, Mexico, Brazil, Australia and South Africa.

The one big exception was in rates from Europe to the UAE, which spiked again week on week after further disruption to traffic caused by renewed conflict in the Middle East – and they remain more than double the level they were at a year ago.

Out of the US, rates firmed up on several lanes, including those to China and to Germany, as well as to the UK, though not overall to Europe.