Red Sea crisis sees businesses take to the skies to avoid ocean freight disruption

January 23, 2024

Retailers are turning to air freight to protect supply chains and keep their products on shelves amid the ongoing crisis in the Red Sea and Suez Canal.

That is according to Oslo’s Xeneta, the leading ocean and air freight rate benchmarking platform, who have been told by businesses across the consumer retail and apparel sector that delays and disruption caused by Houthi militia attacks on container ships in the Red Sea has forced them to take action.

READ: Air cargo enters 2024 with cautious optimism

The latest data released by Xeneta today, Friday, shows air cargo volumes from Vietnam to Europe – a major trade route for apparel – spiked 62% in the week ending 14 January. This is also 6% higher than 2023’s peak week in October and a 16% increase on the volumes recorded in the same week 12 months ago.

Niall van de Wouw, Xeneta Chief Airfreight Officer, said: “This is the first signal in Xeneta data that the Red Sea crisis is impacting air freight. This is typically a quieter time of year for air freight so to see increases of this magnitude, with higher volumes than at any point in 2023, is significant.

“Routes from Vietnam to Europe are used heavily for apparel, a sector we have been told is switching more goods from ocean to air due to the Red Sea crisis, so it is particularly noteworthy we are seeing volumes increase to such an extent on this trade.

“We should also recognise that the upcoming Lunar New Year may also be contributing to the increase in volumes.”

Air freight rates from Vietnam to Europe have increased by 10% compared to last week, but with increasing volumes putting pressure on capacity and load factor, costs could be set to rise further.

READ: e-commerce behemoths deliver an early Christmas present

Van de Wouw said: “When the Red Sea crisis escalated in December we stated that, once the impact starts to be felt in air freight, things could happen very quickly.

“In the next two weeks we should know for sure if this represents a genuine and significant shift from ocean to air freight due to the Red Sea crisis.”

James Graham

James Graham is an award-winning transport media journalist with a long background in the commercial freight sector, including commercial aviation and the aviation supply chain. He was the initial Air Cargo Week journalist and retuned later for a stint as editor. He continues his association as editor of the monthly supplements. He has reported for the newspaper from global locations as well as the UK.