Growing perishable volumes into Europe is a key strategy for Air Menzies International, according to the company’s vice president, Milton French.“We have opened a local perishable handling facility – and Europe is an important market to break into to support our new hub, which is seeing steady grow th.”He told Freight News that overall volumes into Europe were growing and had been increasing steadily month-on-month since the start of the year. Perishable volumes were also increasing.“Airfreight space, however, remains incredibly tight for imports and exports. At the same time, rates and surcharges are exceptionally high due to the growing cost of f uel.”French said that with international f light rotations still not back to pre- Cov id-19 schedules, it remained an uphill battle to find space and deal with f luctuating and high rates. “The volumes to move on airfreight are available due to the challenges shippers are facing with international sea freight, but we are unfortunately not able to take full advantage of this situation at present.”He added that far too often rates offered by airlines were valid for only very short periods and space, more often than not, was upsold at the time of bookings due to supply and demand on many routes.“Despite these challenges, we believe that normality is gradually returning to the market. At the same time, we are seeing that airfreight charter opportunities are on the increase due to space challenges on scheduled services.”His outlook for Europe and for growing volumes into this market, particularly perishables, is cautiously optimistic. “It is, for the most part, business as usual, but one has to be cognisant of the current war situation on the continent. If we can get past this war, which all indications show will be protracted, this market will boom at last. At the moment we are seeing demand for product into both the Ukraine and Russia, but there is not much space available to support this demand.
