Air Freight
Why is AirportWatch bothered about air freight?Air cargo is rising faster than passenger traffic at some airports, and much of the development at ever expanding airport sites is cargo related. Air freight has far higher negative environmental impacts, including greenhouse gas emissions, than other modes of transport. Air freight often uses older, more polluting and noisier planes, and much is transported at night. Rose Bridger is now working with AirportWatch on air freight issues. More ..... |
What is the extent of the problem?The aviation industry expects the freighter fleet to double over the next 20
years, and as larger planes are being built, this will mean a tripling of air
cargo. The amount of air cargo handled by UK airports was 2,315,438 tonnes in
2006 - a 30% rise in 10 years.
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Sources of information on air freightTrade press sources:
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Air Freight News Stories | |||
CAA air freight figures for UK airports for 2007The CAA figures for all of 2007 show the top air freight airports, by tonnage, in descending order being Heathrow, Nottingham East Midlands, Stansted, Gatwick, Manchester, Belfast International, Luton, Prestwick, Kent and Edinburgh. Some airports swapped places in the ranking, below 6th place. The annual tonnage was almost unchanged from the 2006 figure, at 2,325,772 tonnes. More ..... | |||
Oil prices rise to yet another record - over $117 a barrelThe price of aviation jet fuel is over 69% higher than this time last year, at $144.5 per barrel. IATA's jet fuel price monitor estimates the new fuel price per barrel for 2008 at $121.6 and the impact on this year's fuel bill of the global airline industry as + $58 billion. (22.4.2008) IATA figures Oil price update | |||
Some of the crazily heavy oil drilling equipment that gets air freighted .....Some of the most unlikely things get air-freighted, including oil drilling equipment. Here is a selection of some of the heaviest: tonnes of oil drilling equipment to Congo; 31 tonne transformers; 15 massive ‘Christmas tree’, and component parts of oil drilling equipment required by an Egyptian oil development. (24.4.2008) More ..... |
East Midlands Airport - newsletter January 2008East Midlands Airport has released the first EMA Cargo Newsletter, aimed at keeping all stakeholders in EMA’s cargo business up-to-date with the latest cargo statistics including tonnes handled, Air Transport Movements and top trading countries. The newsletter will also keep you informed of new services (cargo and passenger) operating at EMA. Air cargo grew year-on-year by 1.55%. (13.2.2008) More ..... |
Transport Committee hears from CAA and Manchester Airports GroupOn 27th Febuary, the Commons Transport Committee heard oral evidence from the CAA and Manchester Airports, on air freight. The session can be heard on audio. (27.2.2008) Summary ..... | |
Future predictions by Boeing of the global air freight marketHigh fuel prices and increased competition could be starting to threaten the longstanding relationship between GDP growth and the increase in air cargo volumes. The world air cargo market has grown at 7% a year since 1970, compared with a 5% growth in passenger traffic, according to Boeing - and even their least optimistic expectation is for 5.3% annual growth, which will take the sector from 200bn revenue tonne-km (RTK) today to 500bn RTK by 2025. (18.2.2008) More ..... |
Jet Fuel Cost SoarsJet fuel prices moved past $2.90 on world markets for the first time and airlines pushed their fuel surcharges higher to meet the new records. In Los Angeles on Friday, Feb. 22, airlines were paying $2.935 per gallon for jet fuel. That price was $1.0755, or 58%, higher than the average price for February a year ago. The jet fuel price in Rotterdam was $2.9664 per gallon. It was $1.01876, or 67% higher than Rotterdam's average for Feb. 2007. (6.3.2008) More ..... |
Beyond Crews Control - shortage of pilots for Chinese air freightA shortage of pilots is tripping up freighter expansion plans in Asia, and many believe the airlines' new capacity is going to get worse. In Asia, where countries have seen an upheaval in trading patterns in recent years, finding pilots has emerged as one of they toughest issues for start-ups as well as incumbent airlines. (3.3.2008) More ..... | |
Ethiopia is blooming due to troubles in Kenya so air freight is risingImporters are looking to Ethiopia as an alternative source of flowers and agricultural
produce following civil unrest in Kenya. Ethiopian Airlines, said customers had
already been sourcing more flowers in Ethiopia.
From a low base, air exports from Ethiopia - of which around 97% are flowers
- have expanded more than 40% a year for the last 6 years.
(15.2.2008 More ..... |
International Air Freight Demand Slows - IATA figuresWeakening freight growth for 2007 presages a slowdown in 2008 for the air cargo business, IATA has warned Air freight traffic increased just 4.3% in 2007, according to a report released Thursday. That number compared badly with 4.6% growth in 2006 and 7 to 8% growth in the preceding years. IATA predicts growth in air freight demand to slow in the first half of 2008 before picking up with overall growth of 4 - 4.5% projected for the full year. (31.1.2008) More ..... |
Air freight - a useful background article on freight, trends and climate changeTaken from "Freight Transport Review - Issue 16" this piece is a useful discussion
on what is being transported and why. It states "Particularly on short routes,
an aircraft produces 14 times more CO2 and more than 1.5 times more NOx per tonne-kilometre
than a 35 tonne truck." (11.12.2007) More ..... | |
Soil Association - rule on flown-in organic food will changeFood flown into the UK will be stripped of its organic status unless it meets
new stricter ethical standards, the Soil Association has warned. The association,
which certifies 70% of the UK's £1.9bn organic food sector, says firms must show
the trade brings real benefit to developing world farmers. The Soil Association
would like to see businesses reduce the amount of product they air freight - so
people would be less reliant on fossil fuels for their livelihoods. (25.10.2007)
More ..... and Soil Assn Press release. |
Heathrow's Air Cargo Soars, but declines at Gatwick and StanstedHeathrow Airport showed its strongest cargo growth in three-and-a-half years in December as freight tonnage surged 16.9%. Tonnage at Heathrow for all of 2007 was up 3.9% over 2006. However, tonnage at Gatwick Airport was down 9% in December, and down 19.3% overall in2007. Tonnage at Stansted fell 3.5% in December, and was down 9.4% for the full year 2007. (17.1.2008) More ..... |
Beijing-Hamburg train halves time taken by cargo by seaChinese trade with Europe is about to be revolutionised by the rebirth of the old overland silk route - this time via rail. An alliance of rail operators from the Pacific to the Baltic have just completed a trial run, moving cargo from China to the EU in just 15 days - under half the time it takes to ship containers. The route crosses China, Mongolia, Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany. (28.1.2008) More ..... | |
Air freight fights for space - Christmas rushAir freight forwarders are battling to meet unexpectedly strong peak season demand
out of Asia, which has led to backlogs for both the European and transpacific
markets. Expeditors described the capacity situation as "critical, fuelled by
heavy retail shipments for the holiday season and end-of-year sales". (26.11.2007)
More ..... |
UK top for flying fashionA report on ethical fashion in August 2007 looked at a range of studies which
showed that British fashion buyers rely twice as much on air freight for imports
from China and India in comparison to French, German or Spanish buyers. Estimates
of the greenhouse gas emissions of air freighting fashion varied between 20 and
150 times greater than for sea freight. (28.11.2007). More ..... |
Busy 2007 for British Airways World Cargo2007 has been a busy year for British Airways World Cargo. In January BAWC increased its European short-haul freighter service by 40%, the new schedule increasing services from 32 to 45 weekly services across 11 European destinations. (30.11.2007) More ..... | |
Air freighted food; freshly flown in?While the media fixates on the rise in, and environmental impacts of, passenger flights, worldwide air cargo is rising faster and a lot of the development at airports is cargo related. Worldwide, the largest and fastest growing air cargo sector is ‘perishables’ which means cargo that requires temperature control. Although the relative impacts vary greatly, air freight generates up to 170 times more greenhouse gases than shipping for the distance travelled. More ..... |
Giant sail technology could cut shipping emissionsOne of the first large cargo ships in 100 years to cross the Atlantic with the
help of the wind will set off from European shores this month on a voyage which
is due to make maritime history.
Once out at sea, the ship will launch a giant kite, which wind tunnel tests and
sea trials suggest will tug it along and save 10-15% of the heavy fuel oil it
would normally burn. Even greater savings may be possible. (Guardian 2.1.2008)
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New storage means rise in food air-milesLetter from Rose Bridger, in the Independent, (29.10.2007)
Sir:
The 2006 increase of almost a third more food air-freighted into Britain in a
single year ("Food miles soared by 31 per cent in a year", 26 October) is possible
only with the requisite infrastructure, in particular temperature-controlled handling
and storage, at many of our country's ever-expanding airports. More ..... |
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Do consumer concerns - as with "clothes miles" - threaten fast fashion?Some analysis of carbon emissions in apparel manufacturing in late 2006 showed that - even for a T-shirt made in China from American cotton, transport to Europe accounted for only 10% of the carbon emissions produced during the garment's life. More ..... |
Examples of crazy cargo being air freighted - some really heavy stuffSurprisingly, a great deal of really heavyweight shipments are being air freighted.
These make a particularly heavy footprint on the earth.
Some examples are racing cars and racing car fuel; a 63 tonne ice-skating rink;
80 tonne steel beams and a 4 tonne Buddha statue. All being lifted to 30,000 feet
plus in a plane. More ..... |
Pentagon Hands Air Carriers $3.6 BillionLifted by war-surge needs for U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, Pentagon-related
air freight industry expenses have been soaring - and so has military-related
revenue at the carriers and forwarders moving that freight.
Contracts and contract modifications for companies flying cargo and passengers
to the war zones between January 2006 and mid-August 2007 now total nearly $3.6
billion. This provides steady, long term business. More ..... |
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'Food miles' soared by 31% in a year, study revealsAlmost a third more food was flown into Britain last year than in 2005, embarrassing the Government which has promised to slash the pollution and congestion from "food miles". Air-freight rose 31% in the year to 2006, according to the Department for Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs which published the figures on its website without a press
notice yesterday, a day after the Soil Association decided not to implement a
full ban on air-freighted food. (26.10.2007) Independent story |
 International Freighting Weekly
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Some bizarrely huge things that have been air freighted - a tram and a ferry ......... |
EU rules change sees more post at Exeter AirportA change in EU regulations for lorry drivers has lead to Exeter Airport handling
more mail than ever before. The amount of post routed through the airport has
risen in the last two months - and is expected to increase further in 2008.
An average of 568 kilos of post passes through the airport each night on flights
between the city and East Midlands and Stansted Airports 6 nights a week. More ..... |
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Copyright AirportWatch, 2004