Regional Pulse: Limited capacity in Mexico drives charter demand from Asia, Europe

Freight forwarders and charter brokers with operations in Mexico report that the limited scheduled capacity in and out of the region has driven the demand for charter operations from Asia and Europe. [caption id="attachment_95592" align="alignright" width="425"] Courtesy of Skyteam[/caption] While there is still some main-deck service to and from Mexico, capacity remains much more limited than prior to the pandemic, Jack Burt, vice president of U.S. freight at U.K-based aircraft charter company Air Partner , told Air Cargo World . Instead, companies — including those in the automotive supply chain — have opted for smaller charters into Mexico. “Automotive associated supply chain users [are] flying charters with feeder aircraft, like Learjets or Metros, DC9s, older type aircraft, Falcon-20s and things like that to serve these just-in-time manufacturing needs,” Burt said. In recent months, there has also been an increase in import charters from Asia to Mexico, Maximiliano Casal, co-founder and chief operating officer at automated freight forwarding startup Nowports , told Air Cargo World . He further noted that the increase in charters from Asia is expected to continue until the maritime container crunch begins to slow. “The routes with the highest demand are imports from China and Europe to the center of the country,” Casal said. “Another frequent situation is to bring cargo from China or Europe to Laredo, Texas, and transfer it by land to Mexico.” Meanwhile, ongoing semiconductor production issues have caused a temporary dip in the automotive supply chain, slowing down automotive-related cargo activity in Mexico, said Air Partner’s Burt. Despite this, Nowports’ Casal noted that the need for machinery equipment and spare parts from China and other European countries — mainly Germany and Italy — continues to increase. Freight forwarders and carriers have launched routes to add additional airfreight capacity into Mexico. France-based logistics company Geodis launched a thrice-weekly, fixed-capacity route between Amsterdam (AMS) and Mexico City (MEX) on July 21, a Geodis spokesperson told Air Cargo World . They further noted that the AeroMexico-operated route utilizes a 787-9 aircraft and is expected to transport various commodities ranging from automotive and spare parts to skin-care products. The Asia-Pacific branch of Germany-based forwarder Dachser also recently expanded its Mexico connectivity and partnered with Air Canada Cargo to launch a weekly charter service from Hong Kong (HKG) to MEX via Vancouver (YVR). In addition to the Mexico service with Dachser, starting in October Air Canada Cargo has plans to operate its newly converted 767 freighters between Toronto (YYZ) and MEX and Guadalajara (GDL). Mexico-based carriers are working toward providing additional capacity. In May, Aeromexico Cargo launched a twice-weekly service between Wuhan-Tianhe International Airport (WUH) and MEX to boost Asia-Pacific connectivity. More recently, TUM AeroCarga was approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to conduct cargo charters via either codeshare or wet lease , according to a July 22 filing. However, that carrier is not currently approved to use its own fleet for transport to the U.S.

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