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Air freight is the pressure valve. You use it when a launch slips, when a container misses its sailing, or when a product is small and valuable enough that the maths works year-round. The catch is that air rates out of China move faster than any other mode. Ecommerce demand, belly capacity on passenger routes, and fuel surcharges can add thirty percent to a lane inside a fortnight, and peak season compounds all three at once. This tag follows rate movement out of the main gateways, capacity shifts, and the surcharge announcements carriers bury in trade notices. If your margin survives air freight at one price but not another, the difference between booking on Tuesday and booking the following Monday is not a rounding error. Read it before you commit the PO.
Typhoon Saudel has triggered fresh transshipment, rolled cargo and skipped port calls in China, with yard density in north and east Asia tightening behind it.
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Typhoon Saudel has put rolled cargo and skipped port calls back into the China trades, and yard density in north and east Asia is tightening behind it. Cosco has committed about $3bn to 18 new container ships, which does nothing for your Q4 but plenty for 2028 rates. Brussels is briefing that the four-track talks with Beijing could move by the end of the year.
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