'Awash with cash': Global shipping companies now want to fly their goods too

Ocean freight companies are adding aerial cargo to their businesses arsenic shippers look for a "one-stop shop" to determination goods astir the world.

"We are uncovering retired much and much that our customers truly request an end-to-end logistics solution," said Michel Pozas Lucic, Moller Maersk's planetary caput of aerial freight, successful a telephone telephone with CNBC.

"They're looking for this one-stop-shop that takes distant not lone the complexity of the logistics, but besides makes it an optimized, businesslike and effectual solution," helium added.

Maersk, the world's largest instrumentality shipping firm, launched an aerial cargo part successful April and present has a fleet of 15 aircraft, portion rival CMA CGM started its aerial part past twelvemonth and volition person 12 airplanes successful cognition by 2026.

Supply concatenation disruptions created a request for goods to beryllium flown, Pozas Lucic said.

"For astir of our customers, aerial is portion of what they need, either due to the fact that of the velocity that they request for their circumstantial products, oregon due to the fact that of a disruption … [and] water freight would beryllium not perfect due to the fact that it takes excessively long, truthful we realized that it's important to person aerial arsenic portion of the puzzle," helium told CNBC.

Demand for aerial cargo is higher than earlier the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the International Air Transport Association, up 2.2% for the archetypal fractional of the twelvemonth compared with 2019 levels.

The pandemic raised the illustration of proviso chains, according to Marc Zeck, an expert astatine wealthiness absorption steadfast Stifel. "The past 3 years person shown rather a batch of companies that their logistics divisions are not up to the task," Zeck told CNBC by phone.

"Nobody cared truly astir proviso chains … earlier the pandemic started. Now, it's an contented oregon a taxable for enforcement boards," helium added.

"In pre-pandemic times … [if companies] needed to vessel immoderate worldly by ocean, past you spell to the water bearer and publication the shipping … it arrives, and the occupation is done. Now, that's not the case," Zeck said.

Chinese factories shut down successful 2020. Then, demand for goods rocketed successful 2021 erstwhile lockdowns started to beryllium lifted, causing wide proviso concatenation disruptions.

That disruption continued this year, with sailings canceled precocious due to the fact that of congestion astatine North American ports and strikes astatine European ports causing delays.

Airplanes are an charismatic acquisition for water shippers, according to Michael Field, a elder equity expert astatine Morningstar.

"A batch of these water freight companies are awash with currency astatine the moment, having had a bumper mates of years, and they're looking for ways to walk it — and buying up aerial capableness is decidedly 1 of those ways," helium told CNBC by phone. Airlines, meanwhile, had a pugnacious pandemic and needed the money, Field added.

Maersk said it expects escaped currency travel of more than $19 cardinal this year successful its latest guidance, and it is acceptable for transportation of 7 Boeing 767s (three of which it is buying, and 4 leasing) astir the commencement of November. The craft volition alert Asia-U.S. and Asia-Europe routes. Maersk volition besides acquisition 2 Boeing 777s, acceptable for transportation successful 2024, according to a institution spokesperson successful an email to CNBC. Maersk besides bought the freight-forwarding institution Senator International past year.

CMA CGM, the world's third-largest water shipper, signed a woody with Air France-KLM successful May to stock cargo space, and said it would bargain a 9% involvement successful the airline.

But is present a bully clip for an water shipper to bargain airplanes?

"Air capableness has been added to anyhow implicit the people of the pandemic. Now water freight request is decreasing implicit the past fewer months, arsenic we've seen. So, the pressure's coming off, truthful it's astir apt not the champion clip to spell and bargain airlines now," Field said.

"Can they marque wealth successful the longer word connected it? Yeah. Is a bully thought successful presumption of upselling [to customers]? Yes," helium added.

Companies shipping goods are besides readying further ahead, Field said. "The carriers person told them, if you privation the capacity, you person to fastener yourself successful for a twelvemonth oregon 2 with america and they volition warrant that capableness ... I deliberation we volition spot a continuation of that," helium said.

"Customers ... are looking astatine these shippers arsenic much partners alternatively than idiosyncratic you conscionable telephone up erstwhile you request something. That volition decidedly payment the shippers successful the agelong tally successful presumption of their existent readying process too, and possibly making definite that supply-demand imbalance doesn't get retired of whack similar we've seen successful the past decennary oregon so," Field added.

— CNBC's Lori Ann LaRocco contributed to this report.