Pakistan Freight Forwarding Services
Air & Sea Freight Between Pakistan and the UK

Lufthansa and ANA restart cargo tie-up and add NCA and SWISS

Lufthansa Cargo, SWISS WorldCargo, All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Nippon Cargo Airlines (NCA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the aim of enhancing cooperation in the air cargo market between Japan and Europe. The four carriers will assess opportunities for collaboration, including greater network connectivity between Japan and Europe, additional routing and capacity options, as well as enhanced flexibility and service choices. The MoU is built on the past alliance between Lufthansa Cargo and ANA, whose parent company, ANA Holdings also owns NCA. In 2014, Lufthansa Cargo and ANA established a cargo joint venture covering the Japan-Europe market, but following restructuring activities within ANA Holdings' cargo business, the cooperation was suspended in September 2023. Now, building on the foundation established by the two companies, Lufthansa Cargo and ANA aim to explore the potential resumption of their cargo joint venture, including SWISS WorldCargo and Nippon Cargo Airlines. "Japan is an important market for Lufthansa Cargo, and our long-standing relationship with All Nippon Airways has enabled us to serve customers reliably for many years," said Ashwin Bhat, chief executive of Lufthansa Cargo. "Together with SWISS WorldCargo and Nippon Cargo Airlines, we now want to explore how we can leverage our respective brand strengths, networks and expertise to create even greater value for our customers. "By offering even more options and flexibility between Japan and Europe, we are further delivering on our mission of Enabling Global Business." Alain Chisari, head of SWISS WorldCargo, commented: "Europe and Japan are both key markets for customers that rely on trustworthy, high-quality air cargo services for care-intensive and time-critical shipments. "Bringing together our strong European network and specialised cargo expertise with the capabilities of our partners could provide customers with an even broader range of transport solutions." Kenichi Wakiya, executive vice president, cargo marketing & services, All Nippon Airways & chief executive, ANA Cargo, stated: "All Nippon Airways and Lufthansa Cargo have built a strong foundation over many years. We are pleased to renew our dialogue and broaden our cargo joint venture to include SWISS WorldCargo and Nippon Cargo Airlines. "By bringing together the individual strengths of all four carriers, we aim to respond even more effectively to the diverse logistics needs of customers in Japan and Europe." "Nippon Cargo Airlines leverages extensive experience in dedicated freighter operations and a strong presence in the Japan-Europe cargo market as we join forces with our partners," added Hiroyuki Homma, president and chief executive, Nippon Cargo Airlines. "We are fully committed to complementing the networks, aiming to provide customers with expanded capacity and flexible routing solutions."

Fears a strike at San Pedro Bay ports could see congestion

Concern is rising among cargo owners and logistics providers that a strike at the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex could turbo-charge the congestion there. About 250 watchmen, who perform security-related duties at container terminals at the twin ports, are poised to walk off the job at 5pm Pacific time on Wednesday, should last-minute contract negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) fail to reach agreement. Watchmen have been working under contract extensions since the agreement expired in July 2025. Union members had authorised a strike for 1 November, but both sides agreed to extend negotiations until 4 November. According to the PMA, a work stoppage would affect 85% of the container traffic at the port of Long Beach and 33% at Los Angeles. Ted Chen, ocean freight and trade compliance director at logistics provider Dimerco, said there was a high likelihood that other port employees would support the strike, a concern echoed by forwarder Woodland Group. "Other ILWU members may decline to cross picket lines established by striking security workers, potentially preventing normal operations at affected terminals," it warned customers. "Should this occur, disruption could extend to vessel loading and unloading, container handling, terminal gate activity and the movement of cargo between port facilities and inland transport networks. The actual scale of any interruption would depend on the terminals affected, the participation of other workers and the duration of industrial action." ,Moreover, the disruption would aggravate congestion that has resulted in extended dwell times for rail cargo at several of the affected terminals. A spokesman for AIT Worldwide Logistics said: "The larger concern in the near term is how quickly congestion could build if there is a labour disruption, particularly given the existing pressure on inland rail." Shippers are worried added AIT's spokesman. He added: "We are hearing increased concern and requests for contingency planning from customers, especially those with time-sensitive freight, who are evaluating alternative gateways and air options. "However, there's no significant shift so far in routing, and certainly no broad migration away from LA/LB," he said. Dimerco has advised clients to expedite the pick-up and delivery of containers, if possible, but does not advocate alternative routings at this point. "We have not heard anything definitive that suggests the strike may go longer than desired," Mr Chen said. Likewise, Woodland is not urging clients to trigger alternative routings. It advised them to review time-sensitive cargo movements, confirm terminal operating arrangements, and monitor changes to scheduled collections, deliveries, and vessel services.

Air cargo demand continues to grow but peak surge looking unlikely

Air cargo demand growth remained strong, but the chance of there being a further end-of-year surge seems to be fading, according to data provider Xeneta. The data firm's latest figures show that in October air cargo demand increased by 6% year on year while capacity was flat. As a result of demand growing faster than supply, the cargo load factor increased by two percentage points to 63%. Meanwhile, average spot rates were up 29% compared with last year at $3.11 per kg as carriers failed to add capacity to the growing market and fuel prices drove up the cost of air cargo operations. While demand is on a run of seven months of consecutive growth, Xeneta says it doesn't seem like there will be a further surge in volumes during the air cargo Christmas peak season. "Market conditions showed few signs of a sudden increase in capacity pressure, a surge in rates above the levels already seen across the year, or freight charter prices 'hitting the roof' that would signal a late peak in volumes," said Xeneta's chief airfreight officer, Niall van de Wouw. The transpacific has been this year's growth leader as AI-related shipments continue to fill aircraft. Xeneta figures show that Asia Pacific to North America volumes were up 15% in October. The demand growth fed through to freight rate increases. Southeast Asia to North America spot rates rose 3% month on month to $6.34 per kg, while Northeast Asia to North America prices were up 4% to $6.21 per kg. However, Xeneta said that the largest rate increase was on the transatlantic westbound corridor, where Europe to North America spot rates rose 10% to $2.31 per kg as airlines "shifted to their winter schedules". "Tighter capacity on this corridor is consequently pushing up airline rates being quoted to forwarders in recent tenders," Xeneta said. Rates from Northeast Asia to Europe increased 4% month on month in October to $4.97 per kg and Southeast Asia to Europe was up 3% to $4.35 per kg. However, Xeneta warned that Asia to Europe e-commerce volumes were 61% down year on year in the third quarter as a result of the European Union's €3 charge for packages that was added on 1 July. Meanwhile, exports from China to Europe fell by 29%, which was in part down to a tripling of exports to Russia, Xeneta said. "Freighter capacity has also moved," the data provider explained. "Direct freighter capacity between Asia and Europe fell again in October, on top of the capacity lost on routings via the Middle East." Outlook Looking ahead, Xeneta warned that some Asia-Europe air cargo volumes would shift back to ocean as shipping line transits through the Suez Canal continue to recover. "Scheduled container shipping capacity crossing the Red Sea reached around half of its pre-crisis level in October, according to Xeneta ocean data," Xeneta said. "Just over half of Asia-Europe capacity is now routed via the Suez Canal in at least one direction, with around a third sailing through both ways. "Air's share of European Import (EU) import tonnage from Asia rose from 1.1% in 2023 to 1.7% in 2024, at the height of the Red Sea crisis, as ocean freight schedule reliability from the Far East to North Europe fell from 28% to 9.3%. "When reliability recovered to 20% in 2025, air's share fell back to 1.2%. In the first eight months of 2026, it edged up to 1.3%, after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz in February led carriers to shelve their planned return to the Suez Canal." Xeneta expects cargo that moved to air for reliability rather than speed to start returning to ocean once schedule reliability shows a sustained recovery, most likely from the second quarter of 2027. "Until then, air will likely keep the cargo it has," it added. Next year, Xeneta's baseline is for airfreight rates to decline overall. "In the past couple of years, it has not been the level of demand that caused the uptick in rates; it has been the availability of capacity, says van de Wouw. "If the Middle East situation recovers, there will be a rebalancing of demand and supply, and rates will then become lower. But things will happen. We don't know what or where, but this is the lesson the market has learned. "We can't call these 'Black Swan' events anymore because they are too frequent. This makes contract negotiations challenging for everyone."