Air freight is straining under the twin pressures of high demand and disruption from lower capacity and labour shortages, as well as various Covid restrictions.

Air cargo executives have cited problems across major hubs in Europe, including Amsterdam, London, Brussels, Frankfurt and Liege, as well as in the US.

“It’s crazy out there right now,” said one cargo handling executive.

“There are different situations at different airports, and handlers have different issues. But there has been a huge upturn in freighters, and passenger freighters, which has caused congestion.

“In the US, there is a dearth of warehouse capacity, and labour in some markets. It’s a bit of a bunfight for staff.”

Forwarders told The Loadstar customers were unhappy with sky-high rates, combined with delays.

“LHR is facing significant delays, as sheds are unable to cope with the growing demand; waiting times are anything from five to ten hours,” said Lee Alderman-Davis, global product and development director for Ligentia.

“We are aware that some sheds are moving units to LGW for breaking, then returning loose cargo to LHR, which in theory should help ease the pressure, but in practice is adding further delays, and cargo is being misplaced.

“At Ligentia, we are routing cargo via other UK airports to keep our customers’ goods moving, as well as clearing cargo in the airline and moving to general purpose warehousing for processing, to alleviate the congestion through the ETSFs [external temporary storage facilities].”

Ms Alderman-Davis said that on Sunday she had gone to Doncaster Sheffield Airport to oversee the landing of a charter flight.

“I was delighted to report goods being unloaded and available for collection within 24 hours. Air charters have proven, during the pandemic period, to be an effective solution when organisations need to move large quantities of goods quickly to meet consumer demands. We’re currently seeing an increase in charter enquiries due to imminent sales expected on Black Friday.”

Airports tended to downplay the issue, but one noted knock-on effects from flight delays in China, which had caused scheduling challenges for some European airports.