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Air freight transferring to sea, study shows

A study by transportation consultancy Seabury has found 100,000 teu per year of freight has moved from air to sea transport in the last 10 years.

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The shift, amounting to 5.4m tonnes of cargo since 2000, was attributed to advancements in refrigerated container technology, explained the report’s author Derek Brand, maritime advisor at Seabury.

Had the proportion of cargo transported remained at 2000 levels, air freight would have grown at an average annual rate of 4.5%, rather than the 2.6% it has actually seen.

“A decade ago, tomatoes were just as likely to be transported by air as in a reefer container. Today, tomatoes are transported almost entirely in containers. The same holds true for numerous other perishable commodities. The volumes that have shifted to ocean transport are significant for the air cargo industry.” 

The transfer of freight from aircraft to shipping is a positive development for greenhouse gas emissions, with economies of scale resulting in far lower fuel consumption and emissions of pollutants per unit of cargo.

Brand indicated that further technological innovation in reefer containers would increase the proportion of cargo carried on ships even further. The ability to dramatically slow the ripening process “opens up ocean transport as a viable alternative to air cargo on some of the longer trade routes,” he concluded.

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