Further digital momentum

E-commerce has continued to be a big demand factor throughout this year, although stricter customs checks in the US since the summer have limited China-US volumes. Elsewhere, e-commerce air freight has continued to grow, to some extent levelling out air freight’s traditional peak periods. With e-retail players and their logistics partners becoming a bigger and more influential part of the market, air freight stakeholders are adapting to a new quality challenge from customers that are determined to achieve faster transit times and better visibility of cargo movements. This was discussed widely at the ACHL 2024 conference in Istanbul, as highlighted on page 28.

Better planning has also contributed to fewer peaks and troughs in demand this year; and improvements in processes and facilities at air cargo handling terminals have lessened the problem of congested facilities at airports, as highlighted in the Europe Report on page 4.

Among the improvements, better sharing of data through airport cargo communities and systems is an important way to achieve the multi-stakeholder air cargo cooperation that can deliver the performance e-commerce customers seek. But making that type of collaboration happen requires an intelligent and patient approach that sufficiently quantifies the net benefits for each stakeholder group, as highlighted on page 46.

Other improvements include bigger, better, and more-productive facilities, topics discussed within the Warehousing, Processes and Infrastructure report on page 20. One such facility, the 61,000sqm ‘Dnata Cargo City Amsterdam’ terminal set to open next July, will feature seven automated guided vehicles (AGVs) alongside a full automated storage and retrieval system with over 2,500 positions, four ETVs, and over 750 ULD positions for storage. AGVs are among the technologies discussed more specifically in the Autonomous Vehicles & Technology report on page 45.
Amid these apparently positive and welcome trends, various geopolitical issues threaten to add instability and uncertainty to supply chains and patterns. The incoming Trump administration is promising additional tariffs of various kinds, in a renewed attempt to encourage more US domestic manufacturing and curb imports of fentanyl. This may bring some short-term gains to air freight, but the longer-term consequences are less clear.

Meanwhile, Russia’s increasingly malign actions continue, as Putin tries to undermine Western or NATO-aligned democracies and their economies through various acts of state-sponsored espionage and sabotage. Since Russian agents placed several sophisticated and hard-to-detect incendiary devices in international air cargo systems this summer, cargo from ‘unknown’ consignors has been barred from passenger aircraft flying to the US and Canada. Further security mandates requiring advance cargo information are, therefore, likely again this year, redoubling the momentum towards more digitalisation, better digital connectivity, and improved cargo visibility.