Shippers are snapping up air charter capacity as they look to rush goods from all over the world into the US ahead of the tariff increases touted by the Trump administration.
Tomorrow, President Trump is expected to implement what he has called “the big one”, reciprocal tariffs on all products from countries that charge tariffs on US exports, with Canada and Mexico set to be particularly hard hit.
Multiple sources said they had seen a marked increase in the number of charter flights being sought by shippers seeking to get volumes in ahead of the deadline. There is also demand for freighters in Myanmar, following the earthquake.
One aviation executive said several companies had booked multiple charters, citing Apple as an example, while another source said pharmaceutical shippers were also buying up capacity.
A spokesperson from Challenge Group confirmed that it too was seeing a spike in services ahead of 2 April, but declined to share any further details.
Kit Johnson, director of trade compliance at US forwarder John S James Co, also said: “We are seeing increased demand for charters and any available space to try to get products imported.
“This is especially prevalent with automotive, as we know the general scope, tariff rate, and implementation date,” they said, noting shippers were also looking to offload cargo at alternative ports if port calls are due after 2 April.
One US forwarder said he hadn’t dealt with any charters, but added: “What we have seen, however, is a surge in conventional imports on scheduled aircraft. Over the last four to six weeks we have experienced high double-digit increases compared with last year. Especially, Vietnam appears to be busy. Our offices in Hanoi, and Ho Chi Minh run out of space on our BSAs, almost the minute we open up for bookings.
“US export is also strong, although the market appears very nervous. One could be afraid it is the storm before the quiet.”
Daniel Krassenstein, supply chain director at Procon Pacific, said the rush did not surprise him, describing it as “simple math”.
“Imagine if a $20 item were about to be slapped with additional 20% duties – that would mean an additional $4/unit. How many units would it take to cover the cost of a charter plane,” they said.
“If they normally ship via airfreight anyway, then it would simply be a normal airfreight versus charter air freight differential. That differential is all that would be the difference.”
According to Rotate’s live capacity database, several major freighter operators have seen double-digit surges in capacity running from Europe, Asia, or South America to the US over the past 48 hours.
Overall Asia-US capacity for the past 48 hours was up 10%.
Dan Morgan-Evans, head of cargo for Air Charter Service, said: “There has been a bit of an uptick and we have seen some emergency charters to beat the tariffs. However, [there has been] some uncertainty over which products would have the tariffs applied.”
ACS has seen more demand for charters to take medical supplies into Myanamar. It arranged two flights to Yangon on Sunday and one into Bangkok yesterday, bringing in a total of 68 tons, with two more charters booked today.
“The main challenge at the moment is the fact that Mandalay Airport is closed (which is closest to the epicentre) and many of the regional airports in Myanmar don’t have highloaders, which is why our charters have been going into Yangon,” said a spokesperson.
