News / New Zealand exports making a mode shift to air as shipping crisis deepens

Container shipping’s capacity crisis is pushing more of New Zealand’s exports to airfreight.

Congestion at troubled Ports of Auckland had already prompted a raft of delays and carrier surcharges for the country’s shippers and now, the bottleneck in South China is causing further headaches, especially for agricultural exporters due to the lack of reefer plugs available at Yantian.

Another challenge is shipping lines bringing cargo into the country but snubbing exports – it’s more profitable to carry empty boxes back to China ...