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Air China Cargo adds 14th 777F

Air China Cargo has added its 14th Boeing 777 freighter as it continues to focus on capacity and network growth. Beijing-headquartered Air China Cargo took delivery of the newbuild 777F on 1 October, according to Planespotters. Air Cargo China's newest freighter, registered B-229D, was completed at Boeing's Everett factory in Washington, US. It was then flown from Seattle Paine Field International Airport to Beijing Capital International Airport. In addition to its 14 777Fs, Air China Cargo has eight Airbus A330-200 passenger to freighter (P2F) aircraft and two Boeing 747-400Fs. In May, Airbus also confirmed Air China Cargo had ordered an additional four A350 freighters to add to its existing order of six. The 777F offers a capacity of 102 metric tonnes and a range of 9,200 km. Last month, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) granted Boeing an emissions exemption for its 777F that will enable the aircraft manufacturer to continue selling them beyond the end of 2027. As well as meeting continued 777F demand, the exemption will also enable Boeing to bridge the gap until its new generation 777-8 freighter comes to market. Boeing recorded a total of 15 777 freighter orders and 35 777 freighter deliveries last year. The company's order and deliveries data shows 18 777Fs have been delivered to customers so far this year.

China wants more - and bigger - car-carriers to meet export demand

China's shipowners and carmakers are making a concerted push to grow their car-carrier fleets as exports increase. Cosco Shipping Specialized Carriers, carmaker BYD, and SAIC Anji Logistics plan to jointly invest around $2.5bn to build 21 11,000 ceu car-carriers in compatriot shipyards. Cosco Shipping is ordering up to 11 of the vessels, BYD is planning eight, and SAIC Anji, two. Xiamen Shipbuilding and Guangzhou Shipyard International (GSI) are reportedly Cosco's choice to build its vessels. SAIC Anji has issued a tender, inviting international shipbuilders to submit quotes. The tender document, launched on 23 September, states that the shipbuilders must have completed at least ten LNG dual-fuelled car carriers with capacity of at least 7,000 ceu between 1 January 2023 and 31 August 2026. Based on Clarksons' data, only China Merchants Heavy Industry (Jiangsu), GSI, China Merchants Jinling and Yantai CIMC Raffles meet the criteria. Car-carriers exceeding 10,000 ceu remain in the minority, and the Chinese push shows an intent to reduce the per-vehicle cost of transport. If the newbuilding orders are signed by year-end, it would mean more than 100 have been ordered this year, a record. The current orderbook is 26.7% of the active fleet. Hyundai Glovis, the carmaker's shipping unit, is operating four of a total of 20 10,800 ceu vessels, the other 16 still under construction. Wallenius Wilhelmsen, the world's largest car-carrier operator, is building seven 12,100 ceu ships at China Merchants Jinling, for delivery between 2027 and 2028. Meanwhile, Ningbo Ocean Shipping (NBOSCO), Ningbo-Zhoushan Port Group's liner subsidiary, plans to charter two 7,000 ceu LNG dual-fuelled car-carriers. It said in a Shanghai Stock Exchange filing on 8 October it would pay up to $480m to lease the two ships for 20 years. Details of where the ships would be built, and their delivery dates, were not disclosed. The carrier entered the car-shipping business in August, after chartering the 7,000 ceu Clean Star from Atlas EMF, a joint-venture between Greek shipping company Atlas Maritime and Danish investor European Maritime Finance. Meanwhile, on Friday, following trade discussions, the EU capped annual Chinese hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) imports at 350,000 units, with an annual quota growth rate of 6%. The bloc imported around 302,000 HEVs from China last year, while the 2026 trajectory would have indicated around 800,000 prior to the deal. Fearnley Securities, however, claimed that while the EU's quota would dampen tonne-km demand for car-carriers, overall demand remains positive. Chinese monthly car exports now exceed a million, and the Norwegian brokerage estimates that car-carrying capacity is around 3m ceu short, on an annualised basis. Reduced European imports would thus, not hurt the shipping market, it said. Fearnley added: "Moreover, China could be able to push more vehicles to other jurisdictions, potentially offsetting fewer European imports. Fleet growth will be declining through 2029, before 2030 could represent an uptick in deliveries depending on contracting activity (2030 has the first available yard slots)."

Look beyond AI productivity gains, forwarders told

Freight forwarders should focus on using artificial intelligence to capture lost gross profit and deliver more tailored customer service, rather than treating the technology primarily as a productivity tool, according to Erik Muttersbach, founder of AI software company Zauber. Speaking on The Loadstar Podcast, Mr Muttersbach said AI could transform freight forwarding into a higher-value, higher-margin business over the next three to five years, with a growing divide between companies that adopt the technology quickly and those that struggle to keep pace. Mr Muttersbach said 2025 saw a wave of AI start-ups and funding announcements, while 2026 has been characterised by companies running pilots and proofs of concept, alongside industry leaders committing to larger-scale deployments. He expects the first results of these implementations to become visible in financial reporting next year, particularly in earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), shipment volumes and customer retention. The challenge, he said, is not simply implementing software but transforming organisations. For this reason, he said that CEOs must articulate how AI will improve the business and address employees' concerns about job security and changing business models. He highlighted that rather than using AI to increase productivity, forwarders should instead target opportunities to improve profitability. These include charging for waiting time, managing demurrage and detention cases more effectively, and improving allocation management by using earlier visibility of inbound volumes to make better use of carrier contracts. AI could also help forwarders deliver on complex customer-specific requirements that have traditionally been difficult to manage consistently across global operations. Mr Muttersbach explained AI systems could draw on customer standard operating procedures (SOPs), previous correspondence, transport management system (TMS) data and operational expertise to ensure shipments are handled according to individual customer needs. Historically, these requirements have often created additional work without being properly priced into contracts, while inconsistent knowledge across branches can result in service failures. "There's an opportunity to do incredibly individual customer service every single time," he stressed, and underscored that forwarders that continue offering only standardised services risk losing their competitive edge as customers increasingly expect individualised service to become the norm. While AI will not eliminate the need for human relationships, Mr Muttersbach expects roles to change significantly, with people focusing more on complex problems, customer relationships and strategic supply chain support. On whether to build or buy AI systems, Mr Muttersbach recommended developing in-house solutions where a forwarder has a genuine strategic advantage, such as distinctive approaches to customer order management or carrier allocation. More standardised processes, meanwhile, may be better handled by specialist providers with the experience and data to deploy solutions quickly and cost-effectively. He also stressed the importance of integration: AI must have access to the same operational actions as human employees through APIs or EDI connections if it is to automate meaningful work.