{"id":130459,"date":"2026-03-21T17:56:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T20:56:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shipping.einnews.com\/article\/900952985\/uZOhZ7jX8i1__u6O"},"modified":"2026-03-21T17:56:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T20:56:17","slug":"middle-east-war-drives-air-cargo-rates-48-higher-as-gulf-hubs-go-dark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/03\/21\/middle-east-war-drives-air-cargo-rates-48-higher-as-gulf-hubs-go-dark\/","title":{"rendered":"Middle East War Drives Air Cargo Rates 48% Higher as Gulf Hubs Go Dark"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n
\"Air<\/a>
Air Cargo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The Iran-US-Israel conflict has delivered the sharpest shock to global air cargo markets in years, with freight rates out of the Middle East and South Asia surging 48 percent in the two weeks ending March 15, 2026, according to new data published by WorldACD, even as the destruction of available capacity in the region reached levels not seen outside a pandemic.<\/p>\n

The figures, drawn from more than 500,000 weekly transactions tracked by the Amsterdam-based air cargo data firm, capture the full effect of the closure of Dubai, Doha, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Kuwait airports following Iranian strikes on regional aviation infrastructure from late February. The Middle East and South Asia origin region recorded a 48 percent capacity decline over the last five weeks year-on-year, with chargeable weight falling 29 percent. Yet with cargo still needing to move and alternative routing capacity severely constrained, rates responded by climbing 48 percent in the two-week comparison period and 37 percent against the same period last year.<\/p>\n

Emirates SkyCargo and Qatar Airways Cargo, two of the three largest air cargo carriers by global capacity, together with Etihad make up roughly 13 percent of worldwide air cargo capacity, and their hubs have served as the principal east-west connection point for cargo moving between Asia, Europe and Africa. With their operations suspended or severely curtailed, global capacity has contracted sharply.<\/p>\n

Aircraft rerouted through Central Asian corridors or southward through Indian airspace are adding two to four hours of flight time per sector, reducing effective utilisation and concentrating available capacity onto the routes that remain open. The resulting capacity reduction on China-Europe air cargo is estimated at 15 to 22 percent of pre-disruption levels, while demand has not fallen proportionally because sea freight delays are pushing shippers toward air as the only mode still capable of meeting pre-disruption lead times.<\/p>\n

Rates between South Asia and North America and Europe have increased by approximately 50 percent, reaching around $6.00 per kilogram and $4.00 per kilogram respectively, while Southeast Asia to Europe rates have risen 20 percent to above $4.00 per kilogram.<\/p>\n

The disruption is registering clearly on Africa\u2019s trade lanes. The WorldACD data shows Africa as an origin region recorded a 22 percent capacity decline over the last five weeks, with chargeable weight down 18 percent but rates up 16 percent year-on-year. For Ghana and other West African economies that rely heavily on air cargo connections through Gulf hubs for pharmaceutical imports, perishable exports, and e-commerce fulfillment, the rate environment means higher freight costs are flowing directly into import prices.<\/p>\n

Airspace closures and restrictions across Iran, Israel, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq and portions of the UAE continue to eliminate most Middle East air cargo capacity, with remaining flights operating on extended routings that contribute to capacity displacement, rate volatility and reduced schedule reliability on Europe-Asia and Asia-Africa lanes.<\/p>\n

Outside the conflict zone, air cargo markets remained broadly positive heading into the disruption. Global cargo volumes rose 5.6 percent year-on-year in January 2026, with international routes up 7.2 percent and capacity reaching its highest recorded January level at 49.7 billion cargo tonne-kilometres. The WorldACD data confirms that the worldwide rate index stood at $2.67 per kilogram in the week of March 9 to 15, up from $2.39 in the comparable week last year, with a 10 percent gain in the two-week comparison period driven almost entirely by the Middle East disruption.<\/p>\n

Analysts at Xeneta have warned that a protracted disruption could cause short-term air freight rates to double or triple on the corridors most directly affected by transit hub closures, and that the conflict\u2019s duration will be the single most important variable in determining how deeply the cost increases penetrate trade lanes beyond the immediate Gulf region.<\/p>\n

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

… to global air cargo<\/span> markets in years, with freight<\/span> rates out … fallen proportionally because sea freight<\/span> delays are pushing shippers … , the rate environment means higher freight<\/span> costs are flowing directly into … cause short-term air freight<\/span> rates to double or …<\/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-130459","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\/130459","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=130459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130459\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}