India-linked Asia lanes stay tight as global air freight rates ease

Global air-freight rates dipped slightly last week, though capacity constraints and strong demand continued to support high rates on important trade lanes, according to the weekly update by TAC Index.

The agency’s benchmark, the Baltic Air Freight Index (BAI00), fell 1.5% in the week to 24 November. Despite the drop, the index stayed marginally above its level a year ago, up about 0.3% year on year.

For Asia region, rates on several routes remained strong. While the overall index eased, forward-looking spot rates from Hong Kong under the new “BAI Spot” indices moved up through the week. The broader Hong Kong index (BAI30) slipped 1.4% week on week and stayed slightly below the same period last year.

Shanghai (BAI80) saw a small weekly fall of 0.2% but stayed 6.6% higher year on year. Rates from other Asian hubs, including Taiwan, Seoul, Bangkok and India, moved up on lanes to the United States and Europe. This suggests continuing demand on long-haul corridors used heavily by Indian exporters and forwarders.

In Europe, some outbound lanes showed mixed results. Frankfurt (BAI20) fell 3.3% for the week but was only slightly weaker year on year. London Heathrow (BAI40) dipped 1.3% week on week but remained 7.9% above last year.