Ships eat into Thai airfreight, says forwarders group

THE Thai Airfreight Forwarders Association (Tafa) says air cargo demand has fallen 30 per cent this year as customers switch to ships, reports the Perth-based AirCargo Asia-Pacific magazine.

Perishables, chiefly vegetables, fruit and flowers, account for 60 per cent of all air cargo shipments from and to Thailand.

"Exporters of electronic goods to Asian destinations such as Singapore and Hong Kong have turned to marine shipments rather than air to lower costs," a TAFA spokesman said.

"On some routes, fuel surcharge has become higher than transport fees," said the group.

This follows more positive first quarter numbers with statistics from the Air Cargo Business Association (ACBA) showing 137,747 tonnes of cargo shipped by air from Bangkok, up from 134,687 tonnes in the same period of 2007. Inbound volume rose to 82,086 tonnes from 74,527 tonnes.

Total outbound and inbound figures in 2007 were 534,319 and 307,490 tonnes respectively, according to the ACBA.