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Liege Airport cargo growth flatlines following EU e-commerce charge

Cargo specialist Liege Airport has been one of Europe's fastest-growing freight hubs in recent years but the European Union's introduction of a charge on low-value parcels has put the brakes on growth. The Belgian airport today released its traffic figures for the third quarter of the year, which showed that cargo volumes were 0.1% down year on year at 334,950 tonnes, while aircraft movements dropped by 6% compared with last year to 6,826. To put the fall in context, the airport registered an 11% year-on-year increase in cargo volumes in the first half of the year. Liege said the fall in movements is mainly due to the introduction, on 1 July 2026, of a €3 tax on imported parcels valued at less than €150. The charge was introduced to try and stem the flow of e-commerce goods into the bloc. Since its introduction, volumes of small parcels have fallen by 42%, directly affecting part of the e-commerce- related business and reducing the number of flights dedicated to this segment. However, the airport was also keen to point out that over the first nine months of the year, cargo volumes have continued to grow and are 7.3% ahead of last year's levels at just over 1m tonnes. Flight numbers are up 0.1% at 21,180. Liege Airport chief executive Laurent Jossart said: "The sluggish growth in the third quarter reflects the immediate impact of the new tax regime applied to small parcels. "However, when we look at the results since the start of the year, we can see that the airport continues to grow. We are recording stable traffic in terms of the number of movements, have passed the 1m tonne mark and are seeing particularly strong growth in exports. "These results demonstrate the resilience of our hub and the diversification of our cargo operations." The airport said that the growth levels registered over the first nine months of the year are driven in particular by strong export performance. Between January and September 2026, exports totalled 453,265 tonnes, compared with 382,299 tonnes a year earlier - an increase of 18.5%. Air Cargo News has requested the airport traffic figures for September. In August, the airport remarked that the new charge had "profoundly altered the structure of imports".

Shippers warned: spot rates no pointer to wider box shipping market

Spot rates have become more volatile, relative to the wider box shipping market, since the pandemic, with overall prices increasingly diverging from signals provided by the spot market. In its latest analysis, Sea-Intelligence, compared spot rate movements on the Asia-Europe and transpacific trades with broader market developments, using World Container Index (WCI) and Container Trade Statistics (CTS) data. The consultant compared monthly average WCI rates for Shanghai-Rotterdam and Shanghai-Genoa with CTS data for Asia-Europe. For the transpacific, it looked at Shanghai-New York and Shanghai-Los Angeles rates. Its findings suggest spot rates have become a less reliable indicator of a total market - which includes both spot and contract freight pricing - than they were before the pandemic. On both tradelanes, the indices remained closely correlated, the CTS rate index following the WCI by approximately one month. Sea-Intelligence used this relationship to forecast the overall market rate index from spot rate movements, and then compared its predictions with the actual CTS figures. Before the pandemic disruptions, Sea-Intelligence found, the difference between forecast and actual market rates fluctuated relatively little, suggesting spot rates provided a reasonably reliable indication of wider market developments. However, deviations became substantially larger from 2020, which the analyst said reflected a greater disconnect between spot rate movements and the market as a whole - also evident when fluctuations were measured relative to overall rate levels, meaning it could not simply be attributed to higher freight rates. The consultant found similar patterns on both Asia-Europe and transpacific trades. Sea-Intelligence also identified a gradual upward trend in the difference between forecast and actual rates on Asia-Europe, indicating that the overall market increasingly recorded higher rates than would have been predicted from spot prices alone. It stressed that the findings did not, however, demonstrate that contract rates had become more stable in absolute terms. "The data merely shows that spot rates have become more volatile than the market totality," Sea-Intelligence explained, and suggested the divergence could reflect greater ability among shippers and carriers to tactically "take advantage of" whichever supply and demand conditions prevailed in a given week. For shippers, the analysis also highlighted the limitations of using spot indices alone to assess overall freight market conditions, particularly when negotiating contracts.

Fraport moves to allay Frankfurt jet fuel shortage concerns

Airport operator Fraport is not expecting to face any jet fuel shortages at Frankfurt, despite press reports suggesting the airport faces a supply disruption. In a statement, the airport operator confirmed to Air Cargo News that work is being carried out on a pipeline but said this is not expected to cause any issues. "Currently, routine maintenance is being carried out on a fuel pipeline that also supplies Frankfurt Airport with jet fuel," Fraport explained. "This scheduled maintenance has been taken into account in our operational planning. We therefore do not expect any disruption to fuel supplies, with alternative supply routes and ample fuel storage capacity available. "The airport's operational capability is not affected by this maintenance." A report from Germany's Bild newspaper suggests that Lufthansa has told its crews on certain routes to take on extra fuel at other airports so they are less reliant on fuel at Frankfurt. This is mainly affecting short- and medium-haul routes, although longer flights are also affected. The report suggested that, as well as the maintenance work being carried out on the pipeline, low water levels on the Rhine were affecting jet fuel supplies moved by ships. Meanwhile, the Bild said that Lufthansa said cargo would not be offloaded so that aircraft can carry more fuel.