Pictured: Angus Hind, Director of Europa Air & Sea
Since October 2023, conflicts in the Red Sea have resulted in major disruption to global supply chains.
With the Suez Canal still inaccessible to most shipping lines, navigation around the African continent via the Cape of Good Hope is adding between 10-15 days transit in each direction.
According to Angus Hind, Director of Europa Air & Sea, the knock-on effect has been large for the airfreight sector, which is seeing unpredictable fluctuations in demand.
With sea freight shipping schedules delayed for the foreseeable, the airfreight market will continue to see some volatility as we head into 2025.
Despite airfreight being more expensive than sea freight, Europa Air & Sea’s UK import figures certainly suggest there’s more of a hunger for a quicker route to market.
The company recently recorded an increase of 16.6% on shipment numbers since the start of the Houthi rebellion.
However, the general trend as Hind explains, is that Europa has also seen an increase in the size of airfreight shipments during this period, of nearly 20% year-on-year.
Hind said: “Within a couple of months of the Red Sea disruption starting, the industry was faced with the additional challenges brought about by the peak of trade for Chinese New Year.
“With factories in China closing, or operating at a lower capacity, and the cost of sea freight increasing exponentially, many European importers decided to hold off on ordering goods – biding their time for some rebalance of the status quo. When this didn’t happen, we saw demand soar and a move to ship heavier, larger loads in as short a time as possible.
“With a number of European carriers not operating to pre-covid levels due to the ongoing conflict in the Ukraine, subsequent flight re-routing and higher operating costs, this resulted in fewer options for European importers. As a result, they will continue to require more support and visibility over their supply chains going into 2025.”
Europa Air & Sea is well equipped to provide this support, as it combines the expertise of a global provider with the support of local teams in Hong Kong, China (Shanghai and Shenzhen), India and the UAE.
With its well-established infrastructure across the Far East, Indian subcontinent and Middle East, and its teams’ knowledge of local markets, it was able to navigate the challenges of moving larger, heavier loads for European importers.
The support Europa can provide is also down to its significant investment in its own IT infrastructure in recent years. Hind attributes the success of these investments to “the expertise of our inhouse team”.
He continued: “In all areas of logistics, technology has had (and continues to have) a huge impact in streamlining services and improving visibility and is exactly what is needed in the current air freight market.
“Over the last couple of years, Europa Air & Sea has been enhanced by the roll out of LeoWeb, which is part of our Group’s £10m inhouse Leonardo programme. Named after Leonardo Da Vinci, LeoWeb has given us control over responsiveness, efficiency, productivity and scalability in a volatile air cargo market.”
LeoWeb is a customer-facing online portal, which reduces admin time and increases visibility of consignments through real-time tracking data.
As a user-friendly order management software, customers can access online quotes, request features and document archives at the click of a button, to ensure their own legal tracking.
Now, with Europa’s team of over 100 dedicated expert developers located across all its global sites, its IT system allows it to be more efficient and customer-centric at every point in a consignment’s journey.
During times of higher demand for consumer goods, like China’s mid-Autumn festival (Golden Week) and the global peak season, platforms like LeoWeb become crucial to the customer experience.
Europa Air & Sea has grown rapidly over the past two years, significantly increasing its branch network in the UK and opening strategically located branches across the world to service its international customer base.
With a worldwide agent network and proprietary software solutions, Hind is optimistic about the year ahead.
“We know that market volatility will continue for the foreseeable future, and that is something we can’t control for our customers. What we can do is make sure we have the tools and reassurance in place to make the movement of goods in 2025 as efficient, cost effective and customer friendly as possible,” Hind concludes.
This article was published in the December 2024/January 2025 issue of Air Logistics International, click here to read the digital edition and click here to subscribe.