European Cargo: grounded by financial pressure and an unforgiving market
European Cargo’s collapse appears to have been driven by a combination of rising operating costs, ...
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By Stuart Todd
Air freight connections between the Xinjiang region in north-west China and Europe have expanded rapidly over the past year or so, with one human rights group claiming flights are carrying ‘slave goods’, produced through a system of state-imposed forced labour on Uyghur Muslim minorities.
This poses a growing threat to the integrity of European supply chains, according to Washington DC-based advocacy group the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP).
Among the actions it recommends is that air cargo companies should cease all operations originating in the Uyghur region, given the impossibility of conducting credible human rights or labour rights due diligence.
In its recently-published report, Manifest Risk: New “Air Silk Road” Cargo Flights Carry Risk of Uyghur Forced Labour into Europe, the UHRP revealed that since June 2024, nine cargo carriers have operated direct flights from Ürümchi or Ürümqi, the capital of the Uygur Autonomous Region, to London, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Cardiff, Bucharest, and Budapest, as well as indirect flights to European cities, including Liège, Leipzig, Vienna, Zurich, and Athens.
The cargo includes textiles, footwear, electronics, agricultural products, auto parts, and ecommerce goods – sectors in which the use of forced labour, using Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples, has been documented.
“These cargo routes are not just logistical developments, they represent a dangerous normalisation of trade with a region where atrocity crimes are ongoing and forced labour is widespread,” commented Peter Irwin, the UHRP’s associate director for research and advocacy.
The report also includes data on monthly air cargo flights from Ürümchi to Europe between June 2024 and May 2025.
It showed that two of the most prominent carriers on the route over this period were UK-based operators European Cargo Airlines and Titan Airways, clocking up, respectively, 31 and 25 flights in May this year alone, followed by Uzbekistan‘s My Freighter (18). Other carriers present on the route were MNG Airlines (Turkey), SF Airlines (China), ROMCargo (Romania), Uzbekistan Airways and Geosky (Georgia).
Flight data also showed cargo flights originating in Ürümchi landing in New York and Toronto via stops in Istanbul and Liège in early 2025.
Last month, Xinjiang Airport Group announced new cargo flight routes from Ürümchi to Madrid and Paris, scheduled to launch in late-2025, as “part of a broader expansion” aimed at reaching 40 international cargo routes by the end of the year.
While Titan did not respond to requests for comment, a spokesperson for European Cargo Airlines told The Loadstar: “ECL recognises the importance of the issues raised in UNHR’s report to the Uyghur people, to the principles contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and to the sustainability of our own business.
“We remain vigilant about the challenges of managing this risk. As an example of this, we have carefully considered the decision of World Uyghur Council vs National Crime Agency court case, and updated our business practices accordingly.
“In addition to adhering to the UK Modern Slavery Act, the Proceeds of Crime Act and other applicable laws, we have put in place enhanced due diligence requirements, in particular for suppliers operating in higher-risk jurisdictions. We have also implemented a whistleblower process, a code of conduct for employees and suppliers and an ongoing dialogue with our clients.”
In November 2023, The Loadstar reported that Titan Airways was operating flights between Zhengzhou and Chengdu to Birmingham, in the UK on behalf of Geodis. It’s not known whether this partnership was extended to include flights from Ürümchi.
A Politico.eu story quoted Georgia’s CAMEX Airlines which said it had “no communication with manufacturers, cargo owners or consignees”, and “cannot check the manufacturers or the factories where the goods were made”.
A spokesperson for the airline added that customers send cargo to Ürümqi airport via land from China’s eastern and southern cities because of the lower airfreight rates on offer.
At the end of last month, David Alton, chair of the UK Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights, said that with global supply chains being highly complex, abuses could be well hidden.
“A voluntary system is not going to be enough to root out wrongdoing. We are calling for a range of measures to give the UK robust protections against these goods entering the market.”
He continued: “[We need to:] set out in law that it is illegal to sell goods made using forced labour in the UK; mandate companies to carry out due diligence on their supply chains and fine those that don’t; impose import bans on goods made with forced labour; and empower consumers to know the origins of what they are buying.
“Most of all, we want to see strong leadership from the government. It’s intolerable in the 21st century that we profiteer on the broken backs of slave labour, from Uyghur servitude in Xinjiang to child labour in the cobalt mines of the Congo, and elsewhere.”
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