Amidst a global economic slump, air freight volumes in Australia have plunged despite a significant reduction in freight rates, the Australian Financial Review reported.
Paul Gollard, cargo space air freight broker at Mainfreight and chairman of the Australian Federation of International Forwarders, said that there's no business and the airlines are trying to fill space on airplanes.
"We've gone through downturns but nothing like this," said Eric Matzen, owner and founder of Matzen Cargo.
He added: "normally we would be booking for Christmas now. We probably won't do that until October. People are doing everything at the last minute. They want to hold onto to their money."
The Bureau of Infrastructure Transport and Regional Economics revealed that inbound volumes have taken a nosedive of nearly 22 percent.
Freight volumes of Qantas Airways and FedEx have both registered a plunge; except for United Parcel Service and FedEx, there has been no sole-purpose freight carriers coming to Australia in the past six months, since Dutch-owned Martin Air opted out. |
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Source: cargonewsasia
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