Heathrow Airport was closed on Friday 21 March due to an electricity substation fire, which led to a power outage.
Flights were grounded all day, which the National Freight Manager of Aramex UK says could have affect air cargo services for weeks.
The airport facilitated almost £200 billion of trade in 2023, processing nearly 50% of air cargo in total and 70% by value.
As a critical gateway for high-value goods, and products including perishables and e-commerce, the backlog will not only impact cargo scheduled to depart from Heathrow but also place pressure on airports to absorb the overflow, Badr warns.
He says, “The sudden influx of diverted flights is likely to put an additional strain on the capacities of airports such as Luton, Stanstead and Gatwick, so operators need to act fast and explore other transport solutions to mitigate any potential disruptions over the coming days and weeks.”
Badr adds that the lack of available capacity scratches the surface, saying, “Inevitably, due to demand now heavily outweighing supply, air freight prices also could spike quite quickly.”
Multimodal solutions could be an alternative with Badr giving examples of trucking cargo to European hubs or sea-to-air options via ports such as Antwerp or Rotterdam.
Charter services or securing capacity with alternative airlines is an option for urgent shipments, he says.
Badr says, “Having a diversified logistics strategy can help reduce risks and offer greater flexibility to businesses transporting goods overseas, allowing them to essentially shift shipments to alternative routes fairly seamlessly when faced with unexpected disruptions such as this.”