AIR FREIGHT
AIR FREIGHT: FROM +19% TO -37% MIDDLE EAST DRIVES SHARP REVERSAL IN GLOBAL AIR CARGO DEMAND
- Global air cargo growth slowed in early 2026 as the Middle East conflict triggered a 3 percent decline in volumes from March, with the region seeing a sharp 37 percent drop, according to WorldACD Market Data.
- Figures based on year-on-year changes in chargeable weight show that worldwide tonnage increased by 8 percent in January and February, before declining by 3 percent from March to mid-April. This resulted in overall growth of 3 percent for the period from January to mid-April.
- The Middle East recorded the most significant shift. After a 19 percent increase in the first two months of the year, volumes dropped sharply by 37 percent following the start of the conflict in March.
Worldwide tonnage dropped -3% YoY since the start of the war in the Middle East, ranging from -37% from the Middle East to +6% from Central & South America
Source: Air Cargo Week
AIRFREIGHT RATES – BALTIC EXCHANGE AIRFREIGHT INDEX
Source: Air Cargo News
Baltic Exchange Airfreight Index (BAI) powered by TAC Data
Rates are based on spot and contract prices provided by freight forwarders
OCEAN FREIGHT
OCEAN FREIGHT RATE MOVEMENT (MARKET AVERAGE) IN THE PAST 3 MONTHS
Source: Xeneta
OTHER LOGISTICS NEWS YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN:
Trade Lane Shifts Reshape Air Flows (Read)
Source: JOC
Breakbulk26: Data center, electricity demand buoy project cargo industry (Read)
Source: JOC
ITS Logistics April Supply Chain Report: Hormuz Crisis Strains Freight Markets Heading into Q2 (Read)
Source: Yahoo Finance
The Largest Ports are Failing Shippers (Read)
Source: Sea Intelligence
Iran allows 15 ships through Strait of Hormuz (Read)
Source: .Seatrade Maritime News
OCEAN FREIGHT: March 2026 Global Schedule Reliability Joint-Highest for the Year
- Sea-Intelligence has published issue 176 of the Global Liner Performance (GLP) report, with schedule reliability figures up to and including March 2026. As the 120-page report is quite comprehensive and covers schedule reliability across 34 different trade lanes and 60+ carriers, this press release will only cover highlights from the full report.
- In March 2026, global industry schedule reliability increased by 3.9 percentage points M/M to 62.2%, making this the joint-highest figure for 2026. On a Y/Y level, schedule reliability was higher by 5.2 percentage points. With improving schedule reliability, the average delay for LATE vessel arrivals also improved, decreasing M/M by -0.14 days to 5.48 days. Despite this, on a Y/Y level, the March 2026 figure was 0.36 days higher...
Global Schedule Reliability
Source: Sea Intelligence
$12.5 billion 'down payment' brings air traffic control out of 1990s.
Now, more money is needed for new software and AI
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Washington – The Department of Transportation is eliminating antiquated paper strips, copper communications wiring and computer floppy discs, but it says more money is needed to keep upgrading the decades-old air traffic control system and integrate new technologies like artificial intelligence and software to streamline US flights. At a news conference at the DOT headquarters on Tuesday, the agency showed the progress it has made in almost a year since it announced plans to build a new air traffic control system.
- Congress allocated $12.5 billion in President Donald Trump’s spending bill – which the administration calls a “down payment” – but there’s still more to be done, said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
- “We are going to need more money for the software side of this build,” Duffy told a room full of reporters and officials. “(Congress is) going to have to find a pathway to get us the rest of that money. It’s going to take us time to develop it, deploy it, debug it, train on it.”
- The decades-old system has been under scrutiny by lawmakers, aviation officials and the public after a series of crashes and other high-profile incidents, spotlighting the stress controllers are under....
Source: CNN US
OTHER INNOVATION NEWS YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN:
Tech layoffs top 73,000 in 2026 as AI drives cuts at Meta, Oracle, others (Read)
Source: MSN
China's DeepSeek releases long-awaited new AI model (Read)
Source: Money Control
AI impact: Are companies using AI to grow—or just to cut? (Read)
Source: Logistics Business
AI optimises logistics solutions (Read)
Source: Real Economy News
Amazon pushes AI use and closely tracks adoption, even as some employees push back (Read)
Source: Business Insider
