Sustainability will be a key issue for the aviation value chain in 2023, and that includes air cargo.According to Constantin Conrad, a shareholder and chief digital officer at Leschaco, while the air cargo industry has been under scrutiny for some time for its negative environmental impact – being the least eco-friendly mode of transport – the concept of sustainability is fast gaining traction.“It’s important,” he told Freight News, indicating that in Western markets it was not only becoming more regulated, but more and more customers were demanding greener solutions – and the focus was very much on reducing carbon footprints.“In the air cargo sector, environmentally friendly solutions can be a challenge or an opportunity, depending on how one wants to look at it. More airlines are offering more eco-friendly fuels, and we are seeing more sustainable transport solutions available.”Pursuing a greener solution, he said, would be critical for airlines in the future as sustainability was affecting buying behaviour. Increasingly shippers and forwarders are selecting carriers based on what they are doing to reduce carbon emissions.“It will, however, be interesting to see how the market responds and if there is a willingness to pay for solutions being introduced,” he said.At present, airfreight produces at least ten times more CO2 than ocean freight. By their very nature, aircraft emissions are released higher in the atmosphere and therefore have a more profound effect. With this in mind, air cargo companies are increasingly being put under pressure to pursue ambitious environmental goals that will significantly reduce their carbon footprint.Juan Enslin, managing director of Leschaco, said sustainability was not as regulated or as hot a topic in the African context as it was in developed markets, but it was catching on locally.“For airlines it will be a focus in the future,” he said. “Airlines have been under pressure locally due to the economy, and it does raise the question of which airlines are going to survive when the prices come down, and where is the consolidation then going to happen.”The introduction of ‘greener’ aviation fuel and switching to more efficient aircraft as older generation models are grounded are two ways airlines are attempting to reduce their carbon footprints. Fuel availability, however, has been a challenge, while the replacement of aircraft has not been an easy undertaking considering the massive economic strain imposed on airlines by Covid.Asked about the general outlook for 2023, Christian Böttcher, Leschaco regional head of EMEAI, said volumes were on the increase, and with more capacity available, the company had a bullish outlook.“With more passenger craft back in the air we have more belly space and capacity has improved. We are also seeing an increase in volumes, which is very positive.”According to Böttcher, rates in the airfreight sector, however, remain tight and are expected to remain so for the foreseeable future.“Locally rates are still quite high and we are not expecting much change, although from a global perspective we are seeing airfreight rates coming down. We have seen a huge injection of capacity in the market in recent months, and with the recent developments in China where ongoing lockdowns place pressure on the ocean freight supply chain, we expect that demand for airfreight will continue to rise.”
