Air freight has had a good 2009 compared with ship, rail and truck based freight carriers. Evidence of that good business is coming out of Seattle, where the new freight version of the 747, the 747-8, is going to make its first flight tomorrow. Ten of the behemoths are already on order from Luxembourg-based carrier Cargolux and eight more are on order from Nippon Cargo Airlines. With a $310 million list price, Boeing has made about a $5 billion dent in the trade deficit with those sales.
The new 747-8 is a bit larger than the current 747s, is more fuel efficient and produces fewer emissions. However, green freight haulers won’t sell unless there is freight to haul, and the upturn in the air cargo market has made such planes feasible. Airbus has a bigger cargo plane on the drawing board, a version of their A380 passenger jet, but they have yet to get a sale for one; the 747-8 has the advantage of fitting into existing 747 slots in airports, while the largest-in-the-world A380 doesn’t fit existing slots as well.
Trucking loads should be increasing as well in this environment, as it generally takes a truck to ship freight to and from the airport; ship-to-plane or rail-to-plane transfers aren’t as common. Air freight is generally more time sensitive than other freight, so trucking logistics firms should benefit from taking care of the transport needs of customers on both ends of the 747-8 flights in a timely manner.
Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=9769862
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