Africa-North America capacity to remain strained through June

Freight forwarders with operations in Africa report that capacity to and from the region has remained limited for months, with current connectivity between Africa and North America being especially strained due to the continued restriction on passenger belly cargo. [caption id="attachment_64988" align="alignright" width="440"] Photo courtesy of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport[/caption] Peter Musola, commercial cargo manager at Kenya Airways, attributed the capacity constraint in the African region to the restrictions on passenger aircraft freight capacity. Kenya Airways currently deploys converted 787 Dreamliner, said Musola. “For cargo, it’s very interesting, our flights from Nairobi are chock-a-block,” said Musola. “In fact, our customers are asking us for more capacity, but it has to be optimized to demand and the demand is really the combination of both cargo and passenger revenues.” The carrier recently launched a weekly cargo-only flight between Nairobi (NBO) and New York (JFK) in May, and after two weeks decided to add two additional flights due to customer demand, with plans to increase frequency in the summer should the demand persist. Kenya Airways’ largest catchment area for transporting textiles and garments is around JFK and includes Washington D.C., Atlanta and Boston, said Musola. However, he noted that a trucking forwarder distributes the cargo to the larger U.S., including Dallas, Cleveland and Chicago. “The garment sector is a big one [and] we are actually having the bulk of it now coming from Nairobi, because of the limited capacity,” said Musola. “We are also seeing it from South Africa that’s coming via Nairobi into the U.S., but we also have numerous inquiries from Ethiopia. We can’t actually serve [the Ethiopian] segment at the moment, but it’s within our implementation radar, [and] once the capacity funnel opens up, we’ll be reaching out to the wider markets.” Aside from garments, Musola noted a strong demand for fresh flowers from Nairobi and a spike for pharma shipments in Kenya Airways’ network. Airfreight capacity from Kenya to the rest of the world is relatively available compared to other countries in Africa, according to Kuwait-based freight forwarder Agility’s weekly global airfreight capacity data update. Available capacity out of Mozambique is significantly constrained, with a reported 70% to 80% capacity reduction regarding freight cancellations, 80% to 90% capacity reduction on trade lanes affected by passenger flight cancellations and an increase in charter movements, according to the report. Meanwhile, South Africa’s connectivity is seeing fewer charters than normal, with a 30% to 40% capacity reduction regarding freight cancellations and 70% to 80% capacity reduction on passenger flights, according to Agility’s capacity report. Regarding Africa-North America connectivity, capacity was critically strained in May with the same expectation for June, according to freight forwarder C.H. Robinson’s monthly airfreight market overview. Meanwhile, cargo being transported from North America to Africa remains limited to major hubs, according to the report. While C.H. Robinson reported a month-over-month downward trend for available capacity, expected additional passenger flights from South Africa in June might provide some capacity relief.

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