United States: When Winter Storms Paralyze Air Cargo

For freight, the impact is immediate. Long-haul passenger cargo, which carries a significant portion of the "general" cargo, is emptied when the rotations are cancelled. Express and all-cargo flights, even when given some priority, remain subject to the same weather, de-icing, crew and ATC slot constraints.

The result is that the capacity offered falls sharply, while demand does not disappear.

Once the storm passes, the flights restart, but the system does not immediately return to normal. Airport warehouses and express sorting hubs are loaded with volumes accumulated for several days. Backlog results in additional delays for:

• export support (advanced cutoff, refusal of certain volumes);
• hub treatment (tri, palletization, ULD reconstruction);
• the return to destination (delayed deliveries, saturated slots).

Even when airports reopen, carriers must arbitrate between clearing the backlog and integrating new shipments. In practice, this means that "non-critical" goods can be pushed back on several successive rotations. Integrators and companies logically give priority to medical flows, critical parts (AOG, automotive, high-tech) and premium contractualized shipments.

For European or Asian shippers, the impact is felt even without cancelled flight from their airport. Cargo to the United States often depends on connections to these domestic hubs. Once a hub like Atlanta or Dallas is saturated, it becomes more difficult to find reliable internal routes to secondary destinations. We then observe:

• transit times extended to the cities of « second line » (Midwest, Deep South, Inland States);
• forced re-routings via other hubs, sometimes with important detours;
• a one-time decrease in quality of service on standard products (Economy, General Cargo).

In some cases, airlines temporarily reduce booking catches on some routes or significantly increase overloads in order to prioritize the most remunerative or urgent volumes. For sensitive flows (transatlantic e-commerce, high-tech, fast-fashion textile), these few days of disorganization can be enough to make miss a ray window or a promotional launch.

The mechanics are classic: capacity in free fall, demand generally stable or even rising for certain urgent flows. The consequence is a tension on spot prices. Shippers who do not have secure contractual capabilities are exposed to:

• rapid increases in demand rates (spot or last minute);
• Overcharges « exceptional » related to disruptions;
• additional storage, re-routing and re-planning costs.

In addition to this, indirect costs include penalties for contractual delay, loss of turnover due to in-store breaks, the need to activate more expensive alternatives (partial charter, premium express, or even switch to the road on some intracontinental connections).