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New US sanctions 'a warning to anyone supporting Iran's airlines'

Supply chain operatives active in the Middle East could find themselves exposed to new US sanctions against the Iranian aviation sector, with the threat of increasing delays in cargo processing also on the cards. Amid increasing its military activity against Iranian targets, the Trump administration yesterday issued 36 sanctions targeting not only Iranian aviation, but companies considered to be supporting it, with Turkish, Malaysian, and Emirati firms explicitly listed. US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said: "We promised severe consequences for those providing financial lifelines to the Iranian regime. Let this be a warning to anyone doing business with Iran's remaining airlines: you are at risk of being cut off from the global financial system." Going after third-country firms supporting the activity of sanctioned Mahan Air, for example, is something of a step-change in the US approach, with Washington paying particularly close attention to those providing aircraft transfers, cargo services, or GSSA support. Worryingly for businesses, operating through the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) the sanctions announcement exposes businesses to possible repercussions even if they have unwittingly supported Iranian aviation, if it is deemed they "should have known". The treasury also noted that its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) would be "highlighting several key red flag indicators to help detect, prevent, and report potentially suspicious activity". Forwarders handling parts and maintenance materials to countries neighbouring Iran will need to carry out more stringent compliance checks to make sure they are not ultimately servicing sanctioned Iranian airlines. If a shipment listed for a UAE-based company ends up with one of the sanctioned carriers, OFAC will ask whether the forwarder "should have known" this was a procurement front for the Iranian airline before deciding how to act. With previous sanctions, SME forwarders have often found themselves caught in a balancing act between the cost of compliance and the risk of the getting it wrong, which led them to opt out of potentially exposed markets rather than continue. Miad Maleki, ,former senior treasury official and fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the suspension would hit major airfreight hubs, including Doha, Dubai, and Istanbul, leaving forwarders with yet another conundrum from the US war on Iran. Kuehne+Nagel (K+N) subsidiary Apex Logistics recently found itself in hot water with the US authorities, the Singapore-based firm being investigated over suspicions it has been defying US sanctions on China by supplying the country with restricted AI chips. Despite K+N telling The Loadstar it had not been contacted by US authorities and that Apex was cooperating in the investigation, it said this and the new sanctions on Iran pointed to "a more hawkish approach" from Washington on sanctions policing.

Cockpit recording from Miami 767 overrun indicates highly-unstable approach

US investigators have revealed that a pilot of the Boeing 767-300 freighter that overran at Miami warned about excessive speed on final approach, while the aircraft subsequently generated multiple sink-rate and ground-proximity alerts as it descended. After the aircraft touched down, one of the crew called for a go-around just 5 seconds before the jet left the runway surface. National Transportation Safety Board investigators provided the update after further analysis of the cockpit-voice and flight-data recorders from the 21 Air aircraft, which overran Miami's runway 30 on 6 September. About 1 minute 11 seconds before touchdown, as one of the pilots called for 20° flap, the other "cautioned they were too fast", said the inquiry. This pilot also made additional comments regarding the aircraft's excessive speed throughout the remainder of the cockpit-voice recording. "There was not a consistent verbal response to the comments about speed," the inquiry adds. Over the 40 seconds between the 1,000ft call-out and touchdown, the jet issued several aural warnings of excessive sink rate, including below 500ft. It also generated four 'too low, terrain' warnings after the 100ft call-out, after which - just 10 seconds before touchdown - one of the pilots called for 30° flap. Another 'too low, terrain' alert was issued at about 40ft. Some 15 seconds after the touchdown - and about 5 seconds before the aircraft left the paved runway surface - one of the pilots "called for a go-around", said the inquiry. While the cockpit-voice and flight-data recordings have yet to be fully synchronised, investigators had previously indicated that, about this time, the aircraft's throttles were increased to go-around thrust for a few seconds before being reduced to idle power. As the aircraft - branded for Amazon Air - went off the end of the runway, it struck a van and a car, killing five people before coming to a stop.

Air cargo e-commerce growth flatlines in July

Air cargo e-commerce shipment volume growth flatlined in July as the European Union's (EU) new small package import charge took effect. Speaking at this week's EU cross-border e-commerce forum in Liege, Ryan Keyrouse, chief executive of consultant and data provider Rotate, examined how e-commerce demand growth had changed over the past two years. The most recent development, the EU's introduction of a €3 charge for packages worth less than €150, had seen e-commerce year-on-year volume growth come to a halt as of July 2026. Indeed, e-commerce demand from China to Europe fell 24% in July to 112,000 tonnes compared with a month earlier. Keyrouse said that in response to the new EU charge, carriers had reacted by reducing freighter capacity on the China/Hong Kong-Europe trade by around 28% over the same time frame. Air China Cargo had cut 25 weekly flights to Europe to bring its weekly total to 35 flights per week, China Central Airlines had reduced from 30 to 20 flights per week, SF Express had gone from 20 weekly flights to 10 and CMA CGM had reduced from 12 to three flights, Rotate research showed. However, the July reduction in flying may also have been influenced by some front-loading ahead of the regulatory change. Looking at the impact on airports, Keyrouse said that declines are concentrated in e-commerce gateways such as Budapest, Liege, Urumqi and Hong Kong. Rotate figures show that direct China/Hong Kong to Europe freighter capacity between 1-21 June and 1-21 August fell by 58% to Budapest, 35% to Liege, 28% to Schiphol, 20% to East Midlands, 16% to Frankfurt and 15% to Milan. On the outbound side, direct European freighter capacity over the period from Urumqi was down 72%, Beijing 43%, Zhengzhou 38%, Ezhou 51%, Chongqing 38% and Hong Kong 28%. However, Keyrouse pointed out that e-commerce volumes to the US and Brazil have now recovered since they removed their de minimis exemptions for low-value packages in May 2025 and August 2024, respectively. Meanwhile, e-commerce volumes on a global basis increased by 23% to 295,000 tonnes in July 2026 compared with two years earlier, showing the underlying strength of the vertical.