Airfreight came into its own when normal shipping services were disrupted by the Covid-19 lockdown regulations around the world, says Nico Oberholzer, business development manager at Logistics Supply Services (LSS).With passenger f lights grounded and erratic calls on the port, the company had to become more agile in order to ensure that mines received the spares needed to continue operating.This meant securing space on chartered freighters.“What we found is that airfreight is competitive against sea freight when you take the total costs into account. Mines and manufacturers lose thousands a day if they are idle due to a lack of spares, so the relatively higher cost of airfreight is easily offset,” Oberholzer told Freight News.When the costs of inventory and finance are factored in while the parts are on the water, airfreight will remain competitive, even when shipping returns to normal.“Faster delivery times also mean that regional companies are less exposed to currency f luctuations,” he adds.
