Air cargo capacity out of Taiwan remains tight and rates are rising on every lane due to continued AI and semiconductor demand, new research from Dimerco has found.
The freight forwarder’s Asia Pac Freight Report for September found that Asia-US demand in particular is being propelled by AI-related goods flown out of Taiwan.
“Asia-US demand still leans heavily on AI-related products out of Taiwan,” said Dimerco.
Additionally, South Korea’s load factors to the US are nearly at 90%.
The freight forwarder added that in comparison, “ex-China volumes into the US remain soft with no meaningful pickup”.
Meanwhile Asia-Europe demand and rates continue to be subdued due to the EU’s removal of its de minimis exemption on 1 July. The seasonal summer holiday slowdown has added to this issue, said Dimerco.
“September should bring a modest recovery on quarter-end shipping and pre-Golden Week bookings, but the e-commerce base has not returned,” commented the forwarder.
Looking at Asia specifically, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore remain the tightest airfreight markets.
Within Asia, Dimerco said “traffic is running below the same period last year, and some China-Vietnam and China-Thailand volume has shifted to road freight on cost and lead-time grounds”.
The company added that “Middle East re-routing is still stretches long-haul sectors, while typhoons at Chinese gateways and India’s monsoon add ground-side friction”.
Economic signs were positive and global manufacturing logged a twelfth straight month of expansion in July, though the pace was the softest since March.
