Newsletter – May 9, 2023

AIR FREIGHT UPDATES

Air Canada Cargo launches updated website

aircargonews.net
Air Canada Cargo has launched a revamped website at aircanadacargo.com that is said to offer, “new tools that will improve the customer experience and an updated design to better reflect the Air Canada Cargo brand”. Read more here.

Summer capacity boom hits airfreight rates

aircargonews.net
With the start of Northern Hemisphere airline summer schedules at the start of April, the addition of additional services has meant the addition of significantly more bellyhold capacity in the market.
In fact, industry analyst CLIVE Data Services, part of Xeneta, has reported that “a flood of summer bellyhold capacity on major lanes”, coupled with a 4% drop in demand in April, means that the industry is facing a challenging four or five months. Read more here.

Japan Airlines returns to freighter business

freightwaves.com
Japan Airlines is going back to the future. Thirteen years after getting rid of its freighter business as part of a bankruptcy reorganization, the passenger carrier is reintroducing a dedicated cargo fleet in a strategic move to capitalize on growth opportunities in the cargo and mail sectors.
JAL said last week it will pluck three Boeing 767-300ER jets from its passenger fleet and send them to an airframe overhaul facility for conversion into pure freighters capable of carrying large containers on the main deck. Read more here.

OCEAN FREIGHT UPDATES

US imports up again in April as market mirrors pre-COVID ‘normal’

freightwaves.com
Amid all the doom and gloom on container shipping and the talk of an impending recession, U.S. imports are rising off their lows. Inventory-to-sales ratios are still much higher than pre-COVID, yet monthly imports are now either at or above 2019 levels, depending on which data source you use.
U.S. ports imported 2,020,197 twenty-foot equivalent units of containerized cargo in April, Descartes said on Monday. Read more here.

GROUND AND RAIL REIGHT UPDATES

When Alberta wildfires shut down roads, truckers wait … and wait

cbc.ca
More than 100 wildfires continue to burn in Alberta and thousands are still displaced. As thousands of evacuees flee their homes, truckers on the road are feeling the pressure of being stuck.
Several highways west of Edmonton are closed because of the fires, including a part of Highway 16. Multiple fires in the area are making it difficult to get around the closures as well. Read more here.