Air Cargo, Trucker Support
FMA monitored the various sources of supply chain information on the weekend, but did not find anything of enough urgency to add to your overloaded “in boxes” on the weekend.

Air Cargo
With the arrival of COVID 19, there have been many disruptive impacts on the air freight business. One outcome has been the dramatic increase in air freight rates. FMA has reports of rates having been increased by five times pre-pandemic amounts. This is very difficult for shippers when they are already in a precarious position due to the virus.

In normal times, a large amount of air freight is flown in the belly of passenger flights.  Additional space left in a plane’s hold, after baggage has been loaded, is available for small air freight packages. In such cases, airlines have an additional revenue stream using space that would otherwise be empty and shippers have an air freight service which does not require them to purchase more expensive space on a dedicated cargo flights.

With the onset of COVID 19, passenger air travel has dropped by about 80%. The previous small load freight service, available on thousands of passenger flights daily, has substantially decreased. A shipper must now compete for a place on dedicated freight flights, for which there is a strong demand. Too many customers + not enough capacity = higher prices.

The  link at the red bar below is to a report from American Shipper on the current air cargo situation which indicates falling capacity and is forecasting declining demand.  It reports rate increase statistics from Frankfort Airport to North America showing increases of over 50%.

Trucker Support
Further to our item on accommodating drivers at loading and unloading sites, FMA contacted to the Canadian Chamber Commerce on the treatment of truck drivers and they will be reaching out to their full network of member companies and to the provincial Chambers of Commerce.
   
As mentioned on Friday, FMA recommends that shippers communicate to supervisors at loading and unloading sites that drivers are to be treated with courtesy and have access to washrooms and other facilities.
  
The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) is, of course, engaged in this matter and the following item by Maryscott Greenwood of the Canadian-American Business Council Stephen Laskowski, President of CTA provides perspectives from the for-hire trucking industry on the treatment of truck drivers.  
https://ipolitics.ca/2020/03/30/in-the-covid-19-crisis-thank-a-trucker/

Service Updates
The comments from the carriers, ports, and from the shipper organizations, including FMA, is that the Canadian transportation system is generally meeting the service requirements.

Our colleagues at the Canadian Association of Recycling Industries (CARI) have noted that business shutdown in India has led to constraints in port operations in India.  CARI notes:
India’s ports have been directed to remain open during the national lockdown, but many of the containers of “non-essential” goods aren’t able to be offloaded or released because of the lockdown restrictions. The Directorate General of Shipping of India issued an order over the weekend advising shipping lines to consider not imposing demurrage charges through April 7.

Our focus in the FMA updates continues be on supply-chain impacts of COVID-19. In this connection, it would be helpful if FMA members could keep us informed of impacts on your respective operations, particularly any supply chain disruptions. This will be useful in our continuing outreach to members and our communications with the government and with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. As always, all individual company information will be kept confidential.

American Shipper – Air Cargo