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DHL Express begins direct Bahrain-South Africa flights

DHL Express has completed the first direct DHL flight between Bahrain and South Africa with the launch of a weekly Boeing 767 freighter service between Bahrain International and O. R. Tambo International in Johannesburg. The route reinforces DHL's continued investment in strengthening Sub-Saharan Africa network connectivity, expanding heavier-weight capability, improving flexibility and supporting growing trade flows between the Middle East and Africa, said the company. This route provides greater inbound and outbound capacity for South Africa and neighbouring countries through the DHL Johannesburg Hub, one of the company's key gateways on the continent. South Africa is one of DHL's "Geographic Tailwinds" markets, reflecting its growing role in global trade flows and its potential to drive future trade growth. The investment also reflects shifting global supply chains, as companies diversify sourcing, manufacturing and customer markets beyond traditional corridors, pointed out DHL. It added that Bahrain's position as a gateway between Africa, the Gulf and Asia makes it an important link for businesses seeking faster access to international markets. "Every new connection we introduce is designed with our customers in mind. As global trade routes diversify and economic ties between Africa and the Middle East continue to strengthen, we are seeing powerful geographical tailwinds creating new opportunities for businesses," said Anthony Beckley, vice president of operations and aviation for DHL Express Sub-Saharan Africa. "Demand is growing across sectors such as healthcare, technology, manufacturing and cross-border e-commerce, all of which rely on fast, reliable international logistics. "While this first direct DHL flight between Bahrain and South Africa is a significant network milestone, its real value lies in the opportunities it creates for customers." Richard Gale, vice president of aviation, DHL Express MENA, added: "DHL Express is the only logistics provider operating a dedicated intra-regional air fleet across the Middle East, connecting customers through Bahrain with major global gateways including Hong Kong, Leipzig and Cincinnati. "Bahrain's position at the crossroads of Africa and the Middle East makes it an ideal hub for customers seeking faster, more reliable access across these growing trade corridors. We are pleased to add this direct Johannesburg connection as economic ties between Africa and the Gulf deepen." Last month, DHL Express expanded its presence in Shenzhen and added a new China-Southeast Asia-Europe flight as part of efforts to capitalise on fast-growing data centre and pharma demand.

IATA calls for stronger approach to dangerous goods across the supply chain

IATA has called for more to be done across the supply chain to tackle the risks from undeclared and misdeclared dangerous goods. The airline association today published a whitepaper in which it argued for a stronger and more collaborative multilayered approach to dangerous goods. The call comes amid discussions among regulators on the role of existing aviation security screening processes as a key line of defence. "IATA stresses that security screening is an important layer of protection, but not a primary solution," the association said. IATA global head of cargo Brendan Sullivan added: "Dangerous goods are transported safely by air every day. The risk comes when they enter the system undeclared or incorrectly declared. "Every part of the supply chain has a role to play in identifying and stopping such incidents as soon as possible. Security screening, which is primarily focused on terror threats, is one layer of protection against rogue shippers, but it is not a complete solution. "A comprehensive multi-layer approach beginning as far upstream the supply chain as possible is essential." IATA said that Dangerous Goods Regulations enable the safe passage or properly declared shipments. However, the issue often stems from hidden items. Figures from the airline association show that in the first half of 2025, some 80% of incidents reported to IATA that involved dangerous goods stemmed from undeclared or hidden dangerous goods. "Lithium batteries and other concealed hazardous commodities, such as undeclared e-Cigarettes and aerosols, were among the products most commonly identified," IATA said. IATA said that existing security controls, including cargo screening, may provide an additional opportunity to identify anomalies and intercept some unauthorised dangerous goods. However, screening should not be regarded as the sole or primary solution. Current cargo screening technologies, certification standards, algorithms and training programmes were primarily developed to detect weapons, explosives and other security threats. Therefore, in the white paper, IATA urged governments to strengthen oversight and enforcement of dangerous goods requirements; Manufacturers and online marketplaces to ensure dangerous goods are correctly identified; shippers, freight forwarders, and postal operators to strengthen training and acceptance controls and enhance the use of customer and shipment data; airlines and ground handlers to strengthen checks before cargo is loaded; and airports to improve coordination and information sharing across the cargo community.

Shippers face rate hikes and 'a classic supply-demand mismatch' in Q4

With the last sailings before China's Golden Week begins on 1 October, container spot rates on the transpacific trades finally began to tail off. Spot rates from Asia to the US west and east coasts have been consistently rising since the end of August in a late peak season pricing rally - last week they breached $10,000 per 40ft to the east coast on Drewry's World Container Index (WCI). However, this week some welcome stability returned, with the WCI's Shanghai-New York rate of $10,373 per 40ft a very marginal decline on last week, while the Shanghai-Los Angeles route was up 2%, to $7,838 per 40ft, a slower increase than seen over the past month. More concerning for shippers and their forwarders is declining schedule reliability of transpacific ocean services and the knock-on effect that port congestion has had on freight booking processes. US west coast forwarder Freight Right noted that "carriers are increasingly rolling bookings or outright canceling confirmed slots, citing vessel space and weight limitations", and warned that "bunched" vessel arrivals were disrupting hinterland distribution out of ports. "Vessel schedules have become highly volatile," it said. "Ships are arriving unpredictably, sometimes three to four days early, and other times several days late, disrupting port operations and terminal reception windows," it added. Although Drewry said it expected transpacific rates to decline next week, Freight Right warned that there may be another spot rate rise in the last few days before Golden Week "Rates may increase further for urgently needed cargo as carriers prioritise higher-paying bookings - importers with Amazon, Walmart, or other holiday-season delivery deadlines should treat confirmed space and realistic sailing schedules as more important than finding the lowest possible rate. "Cargo departing after the holiday may have difficulty meeting final holiday inventory cutoffs, particularly for east coast destinations," it added. A further worry for shippers is that 1 October will see the next round of general rate increases - between $2,000 and $3,000 per 40ft, depending on carrier. Meanwhile, the Asia-Europe trades continued the descent seen since early July, with the WCI's Shanghai-Rotterdam leg down 4% week on week, to end at $3,485 per 40ft. The WCI's Shanghai-Genoa route was also down, by 5% on the previous week, to $3,835 per 40ft, and Drewry said it expected prices to continue in this direction with the increasing use of the Suez routing - despite seven blanked sailings scheduled for next week, compared with three this week, the canal use means "recovering effective capacity outweighs blank sailings". It is a different picture on the transatlantic, where Europe shippers exporting to North America are continuing to face historically high spot rates, which have been over the $3,000 per 40ft mark for over a month, and show little sign of dropping. They currently stand at $3,121 on the WCI's Rotterdam-New York leg, some 72% up year on year. Steffen Manz, founder and CEO of Canadian forwarder Speed Global Logistics, told The Loadstar: "We are staring down a classic supply-demand mismatch for Q4," he said. "On one hand, you have rising demand as Canadian importers actively pivot volumes toward Europe. On the other, carriers are already pulling capacity out of the market through blank sailings to protect their rate structures as winter approaches. "We expect transatlantic spot rates to drift upward through the winter. Our advice to shippers right now is simple: secure your carrier allocations early, don't rely strictly on the spot market, and factor an extra seven to 10 days of buffer time into your European supply chains to account for winter weather delays and blanked loops," he added.