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Liège warns €3 parcel fee and collection rules are reshaping ecommerce flows

Liège Airport has seen a significant impact from the EU's €3 charge on small parcels, but the way the levy is collected across member states may be proving almost as important as the fee itself, according to the airport's commercial chiefs. Frederic Brun, VP of sales and marketing at Liège, told The Loadstar the airport lost about 27% of its Asian cargo - equivalent to some 10% of overall cargo volumes - amid the fee changes affecting ecommerce. The airport has also seen evidence that operators are responding to differences in how the charge is administered across member states. Countries have adopted different approaches to collecting the money, with some requiring substantial guarantees or deposits. Belgium initially required a substantial deposit, but subsequently moved to a weekly prepayment system. "For some companies, this was millions, but it has been changed because we've pushed for it," said Mr Brun. "It's been reduced to one week, and this is not a deposit, more of a prepayment," he stated, and explained that the scale of the original requirements could have been significant for smaller operators. Mr Brun continued: "You have countries where they they basically ask for bank guarantees of either one week, two weeks, one month. Belgium goes more business-oriented to give SMEs the chance to survive by saying, 'okay, you pay this week what you consumed the week before'. "So there is no money which is sleeping on a bank account for one week. In some countries, you still have this." Mr Brun highlighted Germany and The Netherlands as countries which still require a large guarantee. "Each country needs to have its taxes, fine, but it has to be fairly applied," he urged. In November, a proposed €2 'handling fee' linked to the cost of controls is also expected, but exactly what will happen still remains unclear. "Nobody knows. I mean, again, there is a lot of uncertainty," Mr Brun said. "You see that in Europe, you have countries that are literally pushing for it, like France pushing hard. Other countries are more 'see what happens'." Alexis Lapot, head of commercial at the airport, told The Loadstar that the uncertainty has prompted a renewed push to attract ecommerce traffic in Liege, while encouraging airlines and platforms to prepare for the EU's longer-term customs regime. "The market. It's shrinking, but we will make sure that it's less shrinking in Liège," he summarised. Mr Brun also suggested that diversification into other cargo sectors helped Liège withstand the shock. "From day one, we've been focusing on pharma, we've been focusing on semiconductors and basically talking about other verticals. That was basically our real focus for the last four years. "Today, speaking a little bit harshly, it saves our butt because in July we could still have a 4% growth, while other airports were having minus figures," he said. He told The Loadstar he believed the market would ultimately recover, arguing that ecommerce remains fundamentally consumer-driven, and added it is currently difficult to separate the effect of the €3 charge from normal seasonal weakness. According to Mr Brun, European summer seasonality traditionally produces a 10% dip in volumes.

Maersk cuts transpacific capacity as Golden Week slowdown looms

Maersk has announced that it is to suspend its standalone transpacific TPX extra loader service shortly before the beginning of China's Golden Week holiday. In a customer advisory the Danish carrier said the final sailing this year on the service would be the departure of the 4,200 teu Maersk Boston from the Vietnamese gateway of Vung Tau on 29 September. "Following this voyage, TPX will remain suspended for the balance of Q4 2026. "Further information regarding the potential reinstatement of seasonal TPX service in 2027 will be communicated once available," Maersk said. According to Xeneta's eeSea liner database, the TPX service deploys seven vessels with an average capacity of 4,400 teu, and was originally scheduled to run until the end of November, which means the suspension is slightly earlier than forward planners expected. It has a port rotation of Busan-Long Beach-Vung Tau. It will cut Maersk's weekly capacity on the route by over 10%, according to Linerlytica data which reports that the Danish carrier's weekly transpacific capacity is currently 32,200 teu, and following the closure its offered capacity will be solely under the Gemini Cooperation services. The move can be seen as part of a wider move by carriers to curtail transpacific capacity in an effort to maintain high spot rates as the peak season draws to a close. MSC announced earlier this week it would blank the sailing of its Asia-US east coast Emerald service in week 41, due "to the anticipated slowdown in demand during and after the Golden Week holiday". US west coast freight forwarder Freight Right said this week that spot rates to both coasts would remain elevated for the remainder of this month as the window for US importers to replenish stocks in time for the traditional shopping season nears its end. "China's upcoming holidays are creating a final shipping push. With a long weekend approaching followed by the week-long early-October holiday, importers have a narrowing window to move cargo before widespread factory and logistics closures. "Space is becoming more difficult to secure. Carriers have already announced blank sailings around the October holiday, while existing capacity is filling as shippers try to move freight before the shutdown," it said, and added that further disruptions were likely, given continuing congestion at Chinese gateways. "Shippers should expect continued blank sailings, booking rollovers and shifting ETDs. "The recommendation is to increase booking lead time from roughly one week to two-to-three weeks, even when cargo is not yet ready - securing space early is increasingly important when schedule reliability is low," it added.

Ocean freight booking risk remains elevated, WiseTech warns

Ocean freight risk is expected to remain elevated across the major Asia-North America and Asia-Europe trades over the next four weeks, with deteriorating schedule reliability emerging as a key concern, according to WiseTech Global's new Ocean Freight Risk Outlook. The monthly report, launched today, provides a four-week forward-looking view of ocean freight capacity and risk across major trade lanes. On Asia-North America, WiseTech summarised: "Freight risk is expected to remain elevated over the month ahead, driven primarily by booking acceptance risk and weak service reliability rather than a sustained capacity constraint." According to its data, the demand-to-supply ratio is forecast to rise from 76% in week 37 to 100% in week 38, before falling to 79% and then 91%. WiseTech said the temporary tightening is driven by reduced planned carrier capacity rather than stronger demand. Booking security risk is expected to remain around or above its historical average, rising to just above 40% in later weeks. Meanwhile, monthly on-time performance fell from 43% in May to 33.9% in August, with weekly performance dropping to 29.4% in week 35. One-to-three-day delays have also become the largest outcome, replacing on-time arrivals. Port performance remains below its historical average, while vessel queues at major Asian ports continue to present a potential source of schedule variability. Forward transit times, however, remain broadly in line with the 27.6-day baseline. WiseTech's report also highlighted that performance varies substantially between the top 10 carriers, highlighting the importance of carrier selection where timing or capacity access is critical. Meanwhile, on Asia-Europe, WiseTech warned: "Freight risk is expected to remain elevated over the month ahead, driven primarily by weak service reliability rather than capacity availability or booking acceptance." The demand-to-supply ratio on this trade is forecast to remain between 72% and 82%, with capacity above forecast demand throughout the outlook. Booking security risk is also relatively low, at around 19%-22%. But reliability remains the main issue. Monthly on-time performance declined from 34.3% in May to 22.9% in August, while weekly performance fell as low as 16.2% in week 34 before recovering to 24.5% in week 35. One-to-three-day delays remain the largest category, although their share fell to 30.2% in the latest week. Forward transit times of 40.8-42.9 days remain broadly around the 41.8-day baseline. Jon Charles, product manager at WiseTech, told The Loadstar: "Multiple factors are at play, and the type of resulting risk varies significantly by trade lane." He said capacity risk was the main concern on Asia-North America, supported by stronger US consumer and import demand, combined with more aggressive blank sailings and carrier capacity management. On Asia-Europe, he said capacity pressure had eased as consumer-goods demand softened, carriers withdrew less capacity and the selective return to Suez shortened voyages and released effective capacity. "However, the transition between routings is also contributing to schedule disruption and, together with weak on-time performance, means service reliability remains a risk," he said. For freight forwarders and cargo owners, Mr Charles said the consequences could include difficulty securing space, longer or less predictable lead times, and higher inventory and supply chain costs. "Businesses can't control market disruption, but they can reduce their exposure through earlier planning and more informed carrier selection," he said. The Ocean Freight Risk Outlook provides a monthly snapshot of expected conditions, while underlying CargoWise forecasts are updated weekly using booking activity, forecast demand, planned carrier capacity, booking responses, port conditions and operational performance. Mr Charles said the data is intended to provide an early indication of where risk is increasing or easing, giving businesses time to adjust carrier selection, bring bookings forward, increase lead-time allowances or warn customers of potential delays. "This level of detail has historically been difficult for shippers and freight forwarders to access from a single source," he added.