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TAP Air Portugal eyes cargo demand for Orlando flight

TAP Air Portugal and sales agent America Cargo GSA are hoping that the airline's new direct flight to Orlando will prove valuable for their cargo customers. The service is due to launch on 29 October and is the only direct connection between Lisbon and Orlando. The service will operate three times per week using an Airbus A330 aircraft. Flights will depart on Monday, Thursday and Sunday and the service will offer between 45 and 60 tons of capacity each week. One of the main selling points of the service is the two-hour time saving it offers comapred with non-direct flights. "TAP Air Portugal is making history this winter by becoming the first airline ever to offer a direct connection between Orlando, home to leading American aerospace, tech and industrial manufacturers, and Lisbon, a well-situated, less crowded gateway into Europe and an excellent bridge to South America," said Jean Ceccaldi, chief executive of ECS Group. "TAP's new service shaves hours off existing two-leg connections and is therefore a highly attractive alternative, particularly for shippers of high-value, time-sensitive goods such as aerospace parts, electronics, medical technology and industrial machinery, alongside other specialised exports such as seafood and vegetables. "America Cargo GSA is working in close collaboration with major forwarders and reports keen interest in TAP Air Portugal's latest routing." Rúben da Silva Jorge, head of sales North America at TAP Air Cargo, added: "Market feedback has been extremely encouraging. Customers have responded positively to the new non-stop service, and we are optimistic about developing Orlando as both a strong local market and an important gateway within our network. "Together with our GSSA partner, America Cargo GSA, we look forward to serving our freight forwarding customers." The new service launch comes shortly after the Portuguese government selected Lufthansa's bid for a stake in TAP Air Portugal ahead of the Air France-KLM Group. The deal will allow Lufthansa Cargo to expand its offering between Europe and South America - in particular Brazil - and Africa from TAP's Lisbon and Porto hubs. Meanwhile, TAP will gain access to Lufthansa's strong network heading east and its fleet of freighters, allowing it to expand the types of cargo it can carry.

Produce shippers need better visibility and metrics to ward off costly delays

Faced with existential cost challenges, perishables shippers have welcomed the initiative of the Global Coalition of Fresh Produce (GCFP) to improve logistics flows through a charter of best practices - but some industry executives want better metrics to track carrier performance in order to make significant headway. The GCFP's latest survey, published last week, shows an industry in distress; where many operators are struggling with rising costs - from fuel and shipping over fertiliser to plant protection products and packaging, with 85% reporting higher costs in each of these categories. Nearly two-thirds of respondents saw costs rise 10% or more, and one in seven reported increases in excess of 50%. Most struggle to pass the higher costs on to customers, and almost two-thirds consider their medium-term economic sustainability threatened. At the Fruit Attraction event in Madrid this month, the GCFP unveiled its charter of best practices, which aims for a collaborative approach by all participants in produce supply chains. ( See Produce shippers prepare best practice charter for transport - The Loadstar) It espouses collaboration and communication, fair and transparent business terms, competition and efficiency, cargo integrity and product quality, supported by optimal handling, resilience, and risk preparedness. The charter was well received at the event, but some found it did not go far enough to bring about a transformative change. Edouard Brière, founder of Trackberry, a container tracking and document automation platform for fresh produce importers, called it "a welcome step forward", but added that it needed importer-focused measurements to succeed. He highlighted ocean carrier schedule reliability, arguing that ETA at destination port was a metric that missed the impact of schedule changes on the importer. Whether or not a vessel arrived technically on time is irrelevant if the imported container is not ready to move at the time the importer planned - be it due to schedule updates during transit, late arrival of documentation, or other factors. To a large extent, the problem lies in communication, he believes. "The recurrent frustration [for importers] is not that a ship is late. It's that they find out too late to do anything about it," Mr Brière added. He pointed out that failure to have the container ready to go as planned rapidly piled up costs for importers - for storage at the port and electricity to power the reefer, for a wasted truck journey and warehouse costs. However, these pale in comparison to penalties for missing deadlines buyers set to sell the produce during a planned window, and lost business down the road. What matters to the importer is how close the arrival was to the arrival estimated a week ahead, how often that estimate changed, how late the importer was informed about this, and whether or not the documents required for clearing the shipment arrived ahead of the cargo, he argued. According to him, measuring carrier reliability should not be difficult for the GCFP. All that would be needed is a container number and its promised departure and arrival dates, he suggested, adding that importers could track shipments per lane and carrier to monitor how expected time of arrival strays from the schedule they had been given.

Car carrier orderbook surge raises oversupply fears

The orderbook for pure car and truck carriers (PCTCs) has surged amid booming Chinese vehicle exports and elevated charter earnings, raising concerns that an expanding fleet could outpace demand as European restrictions on Chinese vehicle imports threaten to curb a key source of cargo growth. Greek brokerage Intermodal said last week that 82 PCTCs were contracted in the first nine months of 2026, compared with just nine vessels ordered throughout 2025 and a 10-year annual average of 35 vessels. The orderbook-to-fleet ratio has consequently risen to 26%, well above its historical average of 14%, pointing to a substantial expansion in carrying capacity over the coming years. CMA CGM boss Rudolphe Saade said in a recent interview with Lebanon's L'Orient-Le Jour that the French line targets to have 21 PCTCs in the coming years. Currently, its 3PL arm, CEVA Logistics, operates 11 PCTCs. Fuelling the surge in newbuilding orders is the growth in Chinese vehicle exports, which totalled 8.2m units in the first nine months of 2026, up 66% year-on-year. However, the immediate impact is likely to be limited, with 64% of the orderbook, measured by tonnage, scheduled for delivery from 2028 onwards. This backloaded delivery schedule should help defer much of the supply pressure. China's rapidly expanding automotive exports have kept charter rates elevated, with ships being fixed for $95,000 per day, near levels last seen in 2024. Subdued domestic demand and intense price competition have encouraged Chinese manufacturers to seek overseas markets. Domestic NEV sales contracted by 9.4% year on year, reinforcing the industry's reliance on exports to absorb production. The resulting increase in long-haul shipments, particularly from China to Europe and Latin America, has boosted car-mile demand, while limited backhaul cargoes and diversions around the Cape of Good Hope have lengthened voyages and tied up vessel capacity. Yet the demand outlook faces mounting risks from European trade policy. In October 2026, the EU and China reportedly reached a preliminary understanding on proposed restrictions covering Chinese-built conventional and plug-in hybrid vehicles. Under the proposed four-year arrangement, which could take effect in December subject to formal implementation, annual imports would initially be capped at 350,000 units, with the quota increasing by 6% annually. Battery-electric vehicles would remain subject to separate EU anti-subsidy duties. Intermodal said: "Against projected Chinese hybrid imports of around 800,000 units in 2026, these measures could significantly constrain shipment growth along the China-Europe corridor. The impact on car-mile demand will largely depend on manufacturers' ability to redirect exports to alternative markets." Meanwhile, Chinese automakers like BYD and SAIC Motor are expanding their own shipping fleets, potentially reducing their reliance on vessels chartered in the open market. This could further alter demand for third-party tonnage even if China's overall vehicle exports continue growing.