Governments around the globe have been urgently sourcing PPE equipment with an apparent ‘at any cost’ approach, as they try to arm their front-line health workers with the right equipment. This has led to these products dominating a market that had been starved of capacity since the beginning of the pandemic, leading to a continuous rise in market rates, especially from Asia.

While lockdowns have resulted in less volume moving overall, there has been little softening of the pricing due largely to the PPE needs, with some China rates being quoted as high as $23/kg recently.  The charter aircraft rates have been impacted similarly, with reports of one Chinese charter flight costing $1.7 million.

Without the usual reliance on passenger generated revenue and with no certainty when it will return, airlines have been reacting to the increase in cargo revenues by removing seats and converting passenger aircraft into freight only. Amongst the carriers to take up this option are Virgin, United, American, Air Canada and Lufthansa.

Therefore, the introduction of additional capacity, and the expectation that the demands for PPE equipment should ease sometime soon, the market expects to see more space availability. Even if only to cover any surge in retail and electronics orders that follow the potential relaxation of lockdown measures.

Westbound continue to offer a range of consolidation and direct air freight services to and from Asia and North America.

At Westbound Logistics we pride ourselves in offering personalised and tailored logistics solutions. To find out more please call 01375 800800​ or email info@westboundglobal.com.