China air cargo boom fuelled by garment backlogs

CHINA air freight industry stands to benefit from cargo uplift from the garment industry following a shortage of workers post Chinese New Year holidays when sourcing of material is a problem.

The textile industry has migrated to air freighting for speed and because of lack of available containers that is a result of less manufacturing since the economic crisis late 2008.

"Manufacturers are facing a shortage of fabric, and one shipper admitted she was having a lot of problems sourcing material. As a result, they are air freighting everything as soon as it is made," said a UK manager of a Hong Kong freight forwarder.

Italian-based Cargoitalia is noticing a move towards pre-booking capacity as far ahead as the final quarter fuelled by same period last year's capacity shortfalls, reports London's International Freighting Weekly.

"Demand is building up quite strongly," said Roberto Gilardoni, commercial director with expectations for further growth into 2011. "We have also seen a few charter requests from Hong Kong to Europe, meaning that demand is in excess of capacity.

However the rise in freighting is mostly attributed to holiday closure as it is common for the Chinese workforce of manufacturing cities to return home for a temporary or permanent duration. There are shortages of workers in the areas of Shanghai, Jiangsu, south Pearl River Delta and Zhongshan said Belville Rodair International manager for Asia Dan Lister.

Said Mr Gilardoni: "It's true that air freight volumes have risen a little, but that is down to the influx of shipments post-new year, when factories were closed for two weeks."

Kuehne + Nagel Asia Pacific air freight vice president Thomas Lehmann said it's a result of backlogs to all geographical areas which could go on until Easter time.

(Source: www.schednet.com)