Posted on 11/07/2023 6:20:08 PM PST by RomanSoldier19
Demand for air freight was a bright spot in the aviation industry during the COVID-19 pandemic amid shipping disruptions and passenger travel whittling down to next to nothing — but the tide has turned.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
It could woro out fine if they don’t need a different class of pilots license.
Lots of airlines need pilots thanks to the covax.
I don’t think so. You just have to be checked out on the type of aircraft you are flying.
That would be good then. I thought they may have different ones for freight vs passengers.
Another victim of the Biden economy.
It’s all over unless the Feds spool up another round of largesse.
Obama is smiling.
I had some genius here on FR telling me how air freight was going to supplant ALL other shipping. I asked how air could possibly compete with rail at 300 ton-miles per gallon, and was told that speed meant more than efficiency!
Some folks are so stupid you wish you could slap their stupidity out of them. Even if you couldn’t, it would still be fun to try...
And airlines think this is not coming their way? $250k signing bonus? Soon they will wish they had that back. Does anyone think these things through or are they just all reaction in the current minute?
Companies like FedEx and UPS have started to put as much of their cargo as possible on trucks instead of aircraft. More and more of their customers are opting for slower shipping instead of paying a premium for overnight delivery.
I would have asked the dope how many flights it would take to move the equivalent of a 7,000+ foot long unit train of coal or grain two thousand miles across the U.S.
My company shipped several hundred times between early 2022 and mid 2023.
Of the several hundred times less than a dozen or so were shipped by air due to the absurd pricing. Many times freight quotes (air or truck) were more than what an item cost.
FedEX is not managed well in 2023. I have an account with them but try hard not to use it because of differences between quotes and what you see on your account statement.
everyone is missing the point
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CNBC
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/03/shipping-giant...
Shipping giant Maersk announces 10,000 job cuts, warns of …
WebNov 3, 2023 · Maersk shares plunge 18% after announcing 10,000 job cuts, says profit will be at lower-end of guidance. Published Fri, Nov 3 20238:18 AM EDT. Jenni Reid. Share. …
I've witnessed the entire profit margin for a chain-wide seasonal assortment of 30 or so items disappear due to the air freight charges for just one item in the assortment.
The buying and merchandising teams just couldn't grasp the difference in cost between air freight and cargo containers. They'd fight us when we insisted all purchase orders had to be written with enough lead time to get the lowest out-of-season rates we could find.
There are very few items that have a high enough profit margin or require such fast shipping, that make air freight a feasible option.
I'm surprised when I deal with FedEx because they appear to have no quality control nor urgency to fix gaps in their processes.
I suspect they contract out a lot of the end shipments and incentivize the contractors to game the metrics used for compensation.
I can't think how long it's been since I've gotten a message that an item was delivered and I didn't have it show up until three days later after contacting the shipper and having them reach out to FedEx to find out where it was.
This is for orders from decent sized companies, to me on a main line, not out in a rural area. Worse, I normally redirect the shipments to the local retailer that has a FedEx pickup arrangement and FedEx still can't get it right.
It reminds me of the stories I'd hear about how General Motors operated back in the 1970s.
It wasn't just speed the snake oil salesmen were hawking. I suffered through countless presentations by charlatans promoting the future being cargo blimps. I had several clowns in the Air Force insisting it was coming and was going to revolutionize freight movement. They had zero grasp of cost, limited clientele, and how few items would ship better by blimp than by any other means. Thankfully the pitches seem to have peaked between 2010 and 2015.
Here's one from 2014:
https://www.supplychain247.com/article/airshipping_perhaps_the_logistics_of_freight_by_blimp_arent_just_hot_air
Lockheed Martin even made one:
https://www.ttnews.com/articles/lockheed-martin-unveils-cargo-moving-blimp
I think most of the idiots I dealt with switched to pushing electric cars and windmills. Some people just need the adrenaline of chasing fantasies.
FedEx is in contract negotiations with the pilot union. This is a negotiation tactic by the company, none of their pilots would ever accept this offer to fly for a commuter. Any of them could get hired by American, Delta, or United tomorrow.
The falloff in shipping demand seems due to relative declines in the shipment of finished goods. The bulk raw material shipping cost measure known as the Baltic Exchange Dry Index has been up recently, which suggests that economic fundamentals remain strong, at least for the shipment of raw materials.
I would like to see the drone that would deliver my Chewy order.
I bought a elliptical machine that weighs 69lbs. If I choose to return it Amazon says it will cost $6.99 for pickup by them.
How can they freight a bulky box of 69lbs for just $6.99?
Refund summary
Refund subtotal
$273.74
Shipping (Amazon Pickup)
-$6.99
Total estimated refund
$266.75
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