South China: Shortage of airfreight capacity

Shortly before the Chinese National Day "Golden Week" from October 1 to 7, 2022, airfreight capacities ex South China are tightening. Fan Luo, Managing Director South China at a. hartrodt, reports: "Airlines are offering less capacity than a year ago." According to Jack Sin as General Manager at a. hartrodt in Hong Kong, everything happens on very short notice under the Covid situation and the government’s pandemic policy: "The market situation is more unstable in this year." The good news: "With our Golden Services customers remain flexible," says Peter Zink, Business Development Manager Middle East, Greater China at a. hartrodt in Frankfurt (Germany).

Golden Eagle extends Golden Snake

Since the beginning of July, a. hartrodt Guangzhou has been offering the new Golden Eagle Service to Europe. "We have fixed-booked capacity with China Southern Airlines with our own allocation and direct flights to Frankfurt as European Gateway with flexible departure," says Fan Luo. The service expands the previous Golden Snake Service between southern China and Europe. Clients have now access to multiple departures per week.

Golden Dragon with weekly consolidation

At the Hong Kong hub, a. hartrodt's Golden Dragon Service has been established since 2008. "We offer regular and flexible consolidations every week with our core airline partners," explains Jack Sin. In addition, a. hartrodt Hong Kong is trying to extend the business with other carriers in order to provide more options to customers. "In future, we also want to develop more global consolidations ex Hong Kong and try to extend our market share in the air freight industry," says the manager. He has in mind the air cargo market for more than 86 million people in the Greater Bay Area with Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Foshan, Dongguan and Macau. Since July, the Hong Kong airport has a third runway.

On the other side of the globe, however, demand of airfreight is falling. "The warehouses in Europe are full," says Fan Luo. As a result, air freight customers have price advantages: The rate level is currently "significantly lower than in the first two pandemic years," according to Peter Zink.