Ian Putzger

3 weeks ago | aircargonews.net | Ian Putzger

Source: Achira22/Shutterstock.com The unexpectedly abrupt détente in the US-China trade war not only slashed tariffs on regular imports but also cut the US levy on e-commerce parcels originating in China to 30% (54% for parcels moved through the postal network). This is still high, but not an insurmountable barrier to this traffic.

1 month ago | aircargonews.net | Ian Putzger

Latin American airfreight carriers are adding air cargo capacity as they anticipate healthy demand off the back of trade that appears safe from tariff disruption as well as e-commerce and network diversification. The region’s largest carriers are adding freighter capacity this year.

1 month ago | aircargonews.net | Ian Putzger

The trade war has shaken the global trade landscape and the air cargo industry is feeling the strain, not least in the freighter conversion market. At the time of writing this column, relations between the two largest global economies had undergone a decline that had deteriorated at a dizzying pace to a point where trade seemed no longer viable for most of the commodities moving between them.

2 months ago | ti-insight.com | Ian Putzger

In the final weeks before US de minimis exemption for parcels from China ends, UPS and FedEx have implemented an extra charge for this traffic. And recent action by Amazon points to a different future pace for ecommerce. UPS was the first out of the starting blocks with a surcharge of $0.29 per pound on all US-bound parcels from China, Hong Kong, and Macau from 13 April. The integrator’s ‘surge fee’ is applied on the billable weight of a shipment and is subject to its fuel surcharge.

2 months ago | aircargonews.net | Ian Putzger

Photo: Jaromir Chalabala/ Shutterstock The new US administration wasted no time to upset established orders with moves on trade flows and geostrategic alignments, producing an atmosphere of uncertainty, which has been heightened further by the realisation that Washington regards measures like tariffs as bargaining tools. This further affects companies’ ability to plan ahead. What appears as a barrier to trade today may be off the table tomorrow, only to pop up again sometime later.