{"id":113121,"date":"2026-03-06T04:02:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T07:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shipping.einnews.com\/article\/897572649"},"modified":"2026-03-06T04:02:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T07:02:36","slug":"air-freight-rates-brace-for-turbulence-as-middle-east-conflict-threatens-capacity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/03\/06\/air-freight-rates-brace-for-turbulence-as-middle-east-conflict-threatens-capacity\/","title":{"rendered":"Air Freight rates brace for turbulence as Middle East conflict threatens capacity"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The leading price reporting agency for the sector, the global Baltic Air Freight Index (BAI00) drifted lower by -1.6% in the week ending March 2, leaving it down -1.3% year-over-year, according to the latest data from the TAC Index. However, market experts warn that these figures primarily reflect conditions prior to the recent conflict.<\/p>\n

With large-scale regional flight cancellations already underway, industry watchers anticipate capacity constraints and subsequent rate spikes in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

Rates on the busiest lanes out of China were slightly lower week-over-week to both Europe and the US, though they remained comfortably ahead of last year’s figures. The index for outbound routes from Hong Kong (BAI30) fell by -7.8% for the week, pushing it -6.9% lower year-over-year, despite a late-week spike in spot rates driven by events in Iran and the Gulf.<\/p>\n

Conversely, outbound Shanghai (BAI80) proved more resilient, edging up +0.3% week-over-week and maintaining a robust +8.8% year-over-year lead. Elsewhere in the region, rates generally rose on routes to Europe from Seoul, Taiwan, Bangkok, and Vietnam, but fell on routes to the US. <\/p>\n

India proved an exception, with rates rising to both Europe and the US, accompanied by a sharp spike in daily spot rates following the weekend’s geopolitical events.<\/p>\n

India proved an exception, with rates rising to both Europe and the US, accompanied by a sharp spike in daily spot rates following the weekend’s geopolitical events.<\/p>\n

European markets experienced a noticeable rebound in activity, characterized by rising rates on the busiest long-haul lanes to North America, the UAE, Brazil, and Japan. The index of outbound routes from Frankfurt (BAI20) recovered from the previous week\u2019s drop with a +4.5% gain, though it still remains -7.2% lower year-over-year.<\/p>\n

London Heathrow (BAI40) also bounced back strongly, surging +8.0% for the week and extending its impressive year-over-year growth to +19.9%. Despite these gains on major routes, rates out of Europe were lower on several other lanes, including those bound for Australia, China, Mexico, and South Africa.<\/p>\n

Out of North America, rates trended mostly higher toward Europe, South America, and China. However, the major Midwestern hub of Chicago (BAI50) continued to struggle significantly. The index dropped another -3.3% week-over-week, leaving it languishing at a steep -24.7% deficit compared to the same period last year.<\/p>\n

Additionally, rates from Mexico to Europe declined over the week, pushing them into negative territory on a year-over-year basis. <\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… for the sector, the global Baltic Air Freight<\/span> Index (BAI00) drifted lower by …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113121\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}