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Tech shipments squeeze peak season airfreight from Asia Pacific

Shippers must book airfreight capacity well in advance as high-technology cargo dominates premium lanes from Asia Pacific to North America during peak season. Dimerco's August report identified Taiwan and South Korea as the tightest markets, with Malaysia and Thailand also experiencing significant constraints. Load factors on Asia-US routes have reached approximately 90%, driven primarily by demand for AI hardware, semiconductors and server systems. DHL Global Forwarding's Fabio Weiss cautioned that this peak season will differ markedly from traditional patterns, with tech shipments taking priority over retail cargo. Consumer product shippers with lower margins face particular challenges securing space. Kenneth Leung of Dimerco warned that capacity concerns may force shippers toward costlier charter services. High-value, time-critical AI infrastructure components command premium positioning on fixed deployment schedules. Consumer electronics, automotive and industrial shippers compete for remaining capacity.