Airlines price themselves out of perishable market

THERE IS still plenty of airfreight space at this early stage of the high-season in fruit exports, according to Peter Krafft, m.d. of perishable specialists, Ršhlig/ PCA.
But much of this is due to a combined switch to seafreight and parallel fall-off in airfreight business, as "the airlines are pricing themselves out of the market".
"Asparagus, for example, is just not moving this year," Krafft added. "It's not worth it. At US$1.50-US$1.60 a kilogram, nobody can afford to pay these rates."
Add to that these abnormal times we live in, and a cut-back in consumer off-take.
"It's not a good year because I'd rather have the volumes."
The worries that some expressed about the cut in capacity due to foreign airlines closing their SA services were exaggerated, he added, describing the departures - apart from Alitalia - as "really mickey mouse" in the capacity scheme of things.
"At the moment, even the line flights have space," said Krafft. "And charters are available. If you want planes, you can get them."
But the big question in Krafft's mind is: "Can the cargo justify it?"
And the answer, in a lot of cases, is no!
The current rates, plus fuel surcharges ("Despite the fact that crude oil prices have dropped by some 30% since September," said Krafft, "they're still asking the same for jet fuel".) plus war risk surcharges all combine to hit exporters in a highly price-sensitive market.
"The rates ex SA are now more expensive than ex Europe," Krafft added. "It's a complete turnaround from the previous import-dominated market."