Aperture & Focus 2022: Week 46

Nov. 24, 2022

Aperture & Focus

Global Aperture

Winter holidays lift spirits, not cargo performance. Outbound air cargo performance flies lower across all regions a slight uplift of capacity. Sea freight capacity submerges deeper still as major ocean carriers plan for lower demand and announce measures to pass-through costs associated with the EU’s Emissions Trading System—to be introduced January 24, 2023. The rippling decisions to blank and void more sailings may potentially yield further vessel and cargo congestion now that Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) demand has dropped as a result, and importers seek to defer incoming shipments. But the sentiment is not all doom and gloom: aviation heads predict a windfall of demand in their latest World Air Cargo Forecast, and a green maritime corridor between Seattle-Tacoma and Busan has been officiated.

October retail sales data from the US Census Bureau shows an 8.3% year-on-year increase, but imports have decelerated, according to the National Retail Federation. Holiday travel season ramps up along with airport worker frustrations, with potential to impact cargo terminals. Land border officials at El Paso expand operating hours through January 7 for cargo truck lanes. Vessel backlog officially clears out from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California. Is this due to West Coast port and continental rail labor talks? At least some industry heads think so.

In Canada, WestJet cargo operations are delayed by another nine months on government approval of four converted freighters.

Over the past week, China has recorded more than 28,000 Covid infections across major cities, culminating to a five-day lockdown of Guangzhou’s Baiyun district.

Australia’s Fair Work Commission has ruled that regional carrier Svitzer must scrap its November 25 plan to indefinitely lock out unionized tugboat workers—attributed to ongoing labor contract disputes.

Helsinki Airport sees 100 flight cancelations from Finnair due to a 24-hour union strike on November 20.

The Black Sea Grain Export Deal that allowed Ukraine to export agriculture via Black Sea ports was extended by 120 days on November 17.