Air freight remains under pressure

Nadine Wild shrugs off announcements from airlines about aircraft orders or expanded flight destinations in the summer. "You can't call it relaxation," says the Manager Pricing & Procurement Airfreight at a. hartrodt in Frankfurt. It is true that cargo airlines are offering new destinations, but mostly only vacation destinations with narrow-body aircraft. But cargo needs wide-body aircraft that connect industrial and economic centers. "Vacation regions are not of interest to our customers," clarifies the air freight specialist. The global supply of freight space is still 11 percent below demand, she says.

663 freighters in operation worldwide

There are currently 663 freighters available worldwide. More than half of them are operated by carriers with which a. hartrodt cooperates. Qatar Airways Cargo, Cargolux and Korean Air Cargo offer most of the cargo space. At the beginning of June, Lufthansa Cargo informed about the acquisition of another Boeing 777F: "Airfreight customers to benefit from fifteenth freighter aircraft before the end of the year." But Wild puts it in perspective: "Each Boeing 777F replaces a MD11."

Strong demand for connections with China, Australia and South America

Not only cargo space is lacking, but also prices "are not yet where they were before Corona," observes Wild. Although rates have multiplied in some cases, the experts at a. hartrodt manage to offer good conditions. The greatest demand for capacity is for Chinese connections, and there is also strong demand for Australian and South American connections. Charter inquiries have increased and are being implemented in a. hartrodt's charter department in accordance with the customer's wishes. Wild can imagine offering "a charter round trip for import and export" between Frankfurt and Shanghai via FUTURE in future. a. hartrodt Frankfurt was one of the founding members of the forwarding cooperation in 1998.

Wild has been working in the air freight business for a quarter of a century, and for the last ten years at a. hartrodt. Even though the effort of cargo handling has increased, she sees the "benefit for the customers through continuous improvement of capacity adjustment and the provision of sufficient cargo space".