Chinese air cargo shows resurgence

China’s air cargo demand has grown by double digits for four consecutive months, while rates have risen steadily since late February. The strength of the market rebound after a prolonged downturn that bottomed out last August has surprised industry watchers. But the recovery is not lifting all regions equally and can be partly attributed to a weak 2023 that makes the comparison look better. It seems to be powered by the quasi-blockade of Red Sea shipping and continued growth in bookings by Chinese e-commerce platforms, during a normally slow shipping period. It is creating high expectations among air carriers for peak season and making logistics providers nervous about securing adequate capacity.  Primary factors driving growth in air cargo are poor ocean shipping reliability and Chinese e-commerce players like fast fashion dynamo Shein, and online markets Temu and Alibaba sucking up outbound capacity from China, as per a report.