Shanghai air freight rates decline by 4.3%

Published: Thursday, July 9, 2020

Airfreight rate declines out of Shanghai have shown signs of stabilizing over the last week.

The latest figures from TAC Index show that prices from Shanghai to North America last week declined by 4.3% compared with the previous week to $4.50 per kg.

From Shanghai to Europe prices slipped by 2.4% week on week to $3.21 per kg.

Prices from the Chinese hub have been declining rapidly over recent weeks after they surged in March, April in May due to urgent demand for personal protective equipment and the loss of bellyhold capacity.

However, the rate of decline has slowed over the last couple of weeks and prices are still above the figure for the same week a year ago, when carriers were charging an average of $2.42 per kg to Europe and $3.38 per kg to North America.

Meanwhile, prices from Hong Kong to North America last week declined by 18.5% to $4.55 per kg, while to Europe they were down 15.8% to $3.25 per kg.

The latest update from Accenture’s Seabury Consulting shows that capacity was last week 27% down on a year ago.
This is roughly the level it has been out over the last few weeks.