A recent outbreak in China has caused yet another strain on country’s supply chain. The government has shut down any and every non-essential operations in every major cities including Shanghai and Shenzhen. Due to a seven-day lockdown period imposed by the government, total of 106 flights by Air China, China Eastern Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Juneyao Airlines, and Spring Airlines will be diverted away from major airports. The entire week will put pressure on bellyhold operations and will disrupt operations at the ports of Yantian, Shanghai and Shenzhen. Due to the lockdown, no trucks will be able to enter Shenzhen, cross border shipments from Shenzhen to Hong Kong will not move, unless they carry essential goods to Hong Kong.

Among the many setbacks brought upon by the Russia-Ukraine war, the World’s largest aircraft - Antonov An-225 “Mriya” (The Dream) was destroyed by Russian military forces in town Gostomel near Kyiv. The Hotomel Airport is where this 250-tonne payload aircraft would undergo repairs and routine maintenance. Although the exact condition of the plane is hard to assess at the moment, it has been reported that the restoration may take upto three billion US Dollars and 5 years of hardwork. ‘The Dream’ was one of its kind and went unmatched in the ranks of volume that it was commissioned to transport medical items for Covid-19. The aircraft carried 1300 tonnes of cargo alone in 2020 and was a game changer.

​After Swiss WorldCargo became the launch customer of Envirotainer’s RAP version of Releye temperature-controlled container earlier this month, Qatar Airways Cargo has also found value in the RAP version and has become the latest adopter of the new tech. Envirotainer has been turning heads of various major carriers lately and continues to become a game changer in the field. Qatar Airways got involved with Releye RLP last summer as one of the earliest adopters making them a returning customer for the RAP version. With holding capacity of 5 pallets, the RAP version is embedded with rechargeable batteries lasting upto 170 hours in a single charge and is able to monitor product condition, location, temperature, humidity, battery levels, door openings, cargo loading status, and the shipment progress.

As the Russia-Ukraine tension builds up, the air freight rates surprisingly have yet to show fluctuation. Usually, in a situation of economic crisis, even the slightest of setbacks end up impacting the cargo market significantly. This, however, has not been the case so far majorly because no actual war has taken place yet - expressed James Cristofoli, director at London Cargo. He goes on to warn the freight forwarders to be wary & not place big bets on a single carrier as the future may be full of surprises if sanctions are put in place by countries. One such consequence might be banning of Russian carriers entering European territories or airlines avoiding Ukraine air space despite it being open for all.

As one of the busiest airports in United Staes, Miami international Airport (MIA)  has broken its own record by handling 2.7 million tonnes of cargo in 2021 as compared to 2.3 million tonnes in 2020. Marking the second year in a row to handle such record breaking cargo, expansion of 2 major facilities inside MIA also completed in 2021. One such facility was for DHL Express that includes fully automated package sorting system doubling the facility’s sorting capacity and warehouse space to 206,000 sq ft. Second facility was completed for FedEx that occupies 138,000 sq ft. of area consisting of custom clearance area and cold chain facilities.