Freight and Logistics News and Market Update - Week of January 26, 2023

• The Port of Los Angeles reports another year as the busiest port in the US, having handled 9.9M TEUs last year, and according to Gene Seroka, its executive director, they will continue to prioritize economic growth and technological innovation in 2023.
• Carriers servicing the Transpacific Eastbound trade lane are planning to reduce capacity by 50% after the Chinese New Year, according to Sea Intelligence. Additional blank sailings are also expected because of the declining demand in US imports.
• UK's Manston Airport recently received an investment to be transformed into an air cargo hub. The investment aims to reduce congestion at other British airports and provide necessary air freight capacity in England's southeast. The construction will include a cargo facility of 65,500 square meters and 19 stands capable of handling widebody freighters. The service is predicted to be launched in 2025.
• Carriers are adding more capacity in India and Middle East by adding more flights between Australia and Dubai; and by announcing new ocean ports services in the region.

Air

• United Airlines and JetBlue are preparing to launch flights to Bermuda by the summer of 2023. United Airlines will be launching a new route from Newark, and JetBlue will launch a new route from New York. An increase in cargo capacity is expected.

Ocean

• The Port of Los Angeles reports another year as the busiest port in the US, having handled 9.9M TEUs last year, and according to Gene Seroka, its executive director, they will continue to prioritize economic growth and technological innovation in 2023.

Air

• Starting March 26, Avianca airlines will resume passenger flights in Colombia from the route Bogota-Ipuales-Bogota. The increase in passenger flights will provide more cargo capacity.
• Paranair airlines in Paraguay will increase domestic flights between Asunción and Ciudad del Este starting on February 12. The increase in passenger flights will provide more cargo capacity within the country.

Ocean

• According to an Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) report, Latin America and the Caribbean export growth rates are expected to show a continued decline in the following months.

Air

• As Covid-19 restrictions ease, Air New Zealand will increase its flights between Auckland and Shanghai as cargo demand has increased capacity twice in the last month.

Ocean

• Carriers servicing the Transpacific Eastbound trade lane are planning to reduce capacity by 50% after the Chinese New Year, according to Sea Intelligence. Additional blank sailings are also expected because of the declining demand in US imports.

Air

• UK's Manston Airport recently received an investment to be transformed into an air cargo hub. The investment aims to reduce congestion at other British airports and provide necessary air freight capacity in England's southeast. The construction will include a cargo facility of 65,500 sq m and 19 stands capable of handling widebody freighters. The service is predicted to be launched in 2025.
• Air France will discontinue flights to Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport (MSP) in summer 2023, which was expected to resume in May 2023. Delta Air Lines will pick up the capacity between Charles de Gaulle Airport and Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport. Air France is predicted to return to MSP next year. Delta will also add a third daily flight between JFK airport in New York and Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris in the summer, totaling 11 daily flights.
• For the upcoming summer season, Ryanair launched new European destinations from Ireland airports including Dublin (DUB) and Shannon (SNN). Ryanair also plans on basing three Boeing 737s with 23-ton capacity at Shannon (SNN), which will significantly increase cargo belly capacity within the region.
• Korean Air will launch new services to four new hot spot European destinations in summer 2023 from Seoul-Incheon (ICN) to Prague (March 27), Zurich (March 28), Istanbul (April 24), and Madrid (April 25). Cargo capacity between the two regions is expected to increase.

Ocean

• Starting at the end of January, PD Ports will launch an additional weekly sailing between Rotterdam (NL), Botlek (NL) and Teesport (UK). The goal of the increased service is to reach four weekly sailings and expand the container handling capacity through the mentioned route to 40,000 containers annually.

Air

• Emirates Airlines is increasing flights to Sydney and Melbourne, Australia in hopes of reaching its pre-pandemic levels. Emirates aims to operate 63 weekly flights to Australia by the summer season. The new services will add 22 tons of additional freight capacity per flight enabling export products to reach Asian and Middle Eastern markets.
• Beginning February 2, Etihad Airways will launch an additional weekly freighter flight between Abu Dhabi and Shanghai, reaching eight flights per week and expanding cargo capacity to 850 tons out of Shanghai.
• Starting on October 1, Etihad Airways will be increasing service between Abu Dhabi and Jakarta, Indonesia, to two daily flights. Cargo flow and cargo belly capacity is expected to double.

Ocean

• Hapag-Lloyd announced an update on the India Gulf 1 (IG1) rotation. The new weekly service port rotation will be Jebel Ali (UAE), Karachi (Pakistan), Mundra (India), Sohar (Oman), Jebel Ali, Shuaiba (Kuwait), Umm Qasar (Iraq), Jubail (Saudi Arabia) and Jebel Ali again. The three container ships will have the average carrying capacity of 2400 TEUs.
• A $131 million investment has been accepted to upgrade Jawaharlal Nehru Port's container terminal. The funds will be utilized to upgrade the existing two berths and yards to increase cargo handling capacity and attract vessels which operate on international shipping lanes.

• Taiwanese officials are reportedly pushing to complete an agreement of the US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade by the end of 2023. The initiative was launched in 2022 when the US left Taiwan out of the Indo-Pacific Economic Partnership due to concerns about how its inclusion might be received in China.