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Royal Air Maroc Cargo hopes to benefit from Los Angeles flights

Royal Air Maroc's cargo division is hoping that the airline's new flight to the US west coast will prove popular with perishable and textile shippers. The service was launched in June and links Casablanca with Los Angeles three times per week using Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. The airline's cargo division pointed out that the service is the only flight from Africa to directly connect with the US west coast. The flight will also be able to connect with the airline's Casablanca-Beijing service to offer cargo customers services to three continents and offer much-needed connectivity for the underserved Africa-West Coast and Africa-Asia trade lanes. "This new route has created seamless cargo flows between Los Angeles, Casablanca and Beijing, effectively establishing a round-the-world trade corridor linking major production and consumer markets," the airline said. "Los Angeles provides access to one of the world's largest consumer markets and benefits from strong trade links across the Pacific. "Royal Air Maroc Cargo's service therefore supports a diverse cargo mix: Artisan products, textiles and perishables travel into the US from Morocco and wider African markets, while electronics, e-commerce shipments and industrial products are flown in from China and greater Asia." Rita Chraibi, vice president cargo, Royal Air Maroc, added: "The launch of this Los Angeles service marks a significant milestone in our strategy to connect key international markets via our hub in Casablanca and further facilitate global trade connections. "By linking the US west coast with Royal Air Maroc Cargo's African and Asian network, our customers benefit from seamless, multi-leg connectivity, improved market access and enhanced routing options."

Air cargo demand dips, as expected, but rates show more resilience

Global airfreight volumes are falling as the market approaches its traditional end-of-summer lull, but rates are proving more resilient as capacity contracts and fuel costs rise. WorldACD data for 10-16 August show global chargeable weight fell 5% week on week, following a 2% decline the previous week. Yet average worldwide pricing was virtually unchanged, at $2.97/kg, compared with $2.96/kg in week 32. Capacity fell another 1%, helping prevent weaker demand from translating into lower rates. World ACD noted it was the second consecutive week of capacity contraction and the third in the past four weeks. The data also highlighted a growing split between the major US and European import markets: Asia Pacific-to-US tonnage fell 4% week on week, but remained 14% above last year's level; in contrast, Asia Pacific-to-Europe volumes fell 5%, and were 14% below their 2025 level. World ACD explained that the divergence reflected both the collapse in ecommerce traffic from China and Hong Kong following the end of the EU de minimis exemption and continuing demand linked to AI supply chains into the US. Charles Marrale, CEO of ExFreight, told The Loadstar US-to-Europe had "abundant capacity and low rates". He added: "Outbound to Asia has seen some capacity dry up and rates pushed higher, outbound to Middle East and India is still constrained with higher rates in place." However Mr Marrale noted that US inbound markets remained considerably firmer. "Pacific Asia-to-US is still higher than normal, slowly coming down after some very high numbers of the past 2-3 months... Europe-to-US is "still commanding higher than normal rates." But the forwarder noted he expected the US import market to soften, explaining: "There was a pull-forward effect, with many of the importers in the US rushing-in cargo to beat the new tariffs that were about to go into effect, which also coincided with Amazon Prime Day moving a month earlier. "I expect the front loading that has occurred over the past months has peaked, and we will see a subdued fall and winter demand driving prices lower on ocean as well as air into the US." WorldACD summerised that, overall, the past two weeks showed a "strong similarity" to patterns seen a year earlier, with tonnage in decline in mid-single digits, capacity little changed, and pricing slightly up. "If this parallel were to hold, week 34 would produce an uptick, but times are volatile," the data company concluded.

Global port congestion keeping 1.7m teu of capacity out of the market

Persistent port congestion is effectively removing 1.7m teu of container shipping capacity from the global market, with climate-driven disruption and larger-vessel calls adding to schedule delays, according to analysts Sea-Intelligence noted in its recent report that the number and length of delays was increasingly absorbing capacity that would otherwise be available to shippers. The consultancy said the pre-pandemic baseline between 2011 and 2019 was 2.2% of global capacity absorbed by delays, a level that was "relatively stable" and therefore had limited impact on the supply-demand balance. By contrast, excess capacity absorption is now 2.8 percentage points above that baseline - in June it reached 5%, according to Sea-Intelligence. "We are therefore in a situation where the global market is "missing" 1.7m teu of vessel capacity, due to continuing delays," it said. That 1.7m teu would itself represent a fleet larger than Evergreen's, equating to roughly the world's eighth-largest carrier fleet. . And Alphaliner said: "Congestion is and will remain a growing problem for the liner sector,. Climate change resulting in extreme weather with typhoons, heavy rainfall, but also periods of excessive drought, is increasingly playing havoc with liner schedules." But the consultancy also highlighted the growing impact of larger-vessel calls on port infrastructure. Terminal operators have reported increasing pressure as 'megamax' ships bring more volumes into ports. It highlighted AIS data to illustrate resulting berth times: At Hamburg in July, Evergreen vessels spent between 137 and 187 hours - 5.7 to 7.8 days - at berth; HMM's large ships spent 89 to 103 hours; ONE vessels were alongside for 98 to 111 hours; and Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk recorded substantially shorter stays, of 37 to 55 hours and 52 to 63 hours, respectively. The scale of individual calls varies sharply between carrier networks, Alphaliner's analysis of the Far East-North Europe trade found. MSC's Swan service, using ships averaging 15,000 teu and making six European discharge calls, has a theoretical average of 2,500 teu per port. At the other extreme, Evergreen's CEM service, with vessels averaging 23,490 teu and only three westbound European calls, could generate 7,830 teu per port. Premier Alliance services have potential average volumes of 6,050 teu per port, while Gemini's four loops average about 4,700 teu. Ocean Alliance loops average 5,440 teu, while MSC's independent network averages 2,770 teu per port, because its 15,140 teu vessels make five or six European calls. Alphaliner stressed that these were theoretical assumptions of volumes, due to information on the exact call sizes being "commercially sensitive", but said they demonstrated how network design and vessel size can concentrate large amounts of cargo at individual ports - adding to the congestion challenge facing the liner industry.