IN Brief:
- Dimerco says India is facing longer transit times, higher freight costs, and cargo movement disruption.
- Nhava Sheva congestion, trailer shortages, and export rollovers are affecting import and export flows.
- Stronger India-US trade alignment could support new cargo flows as manufacturers diversify sourcing networks.
Dimerco has flagged tighter freight conditions across India and wider Asia Pacific markets as Middle East disruption, port congestion, and early peak-season behaviour affect air and ocean cargo flows.
The company’s June Asia Pacific freight report highlights longer transit times, higher air freight costs, and cargo movement disruption linked to cautious airline routing around Middle East airspace. In ocean freight, congestion at Nhava Sheva is creating gate delays, trailer shortages, export rollovers, and longer delivery timelines.
Across Asia Pacific, capacity remains uneven rather than uniformly constrained. Some lanes continue to move with manageable space, while key origins and transshipment points are seeing pressure from rerouting, blank sailings, frontloading, and fuel-related cost adjustments. Thailand airport congestion, semiconductor demand, ecommerce movements, and high-tech exports are also keeping air cargo capacity tight in several markets.
India sits at the centre of two different freight pressures. Its ports and inland networks are dealing with current disruption, while its role as an alternative sourcing and production base is drawing more attention from manufacturers seeking to diversify beyond China. Stronger India-US cooperation on trade and energy security could accelerate that trend, bringing new cargo flows into routes that already need greater resilience.
Frontloading is adding another layer of complexity. Shippers moving cargo earlier to avoid rising fuel-related costs can lift vessel utilisation without necessarily indicating a sustained demand recovery. When those early movements collide with congestion and surcharge changes, planning becomes harder across procurement, production, and delivery schedules.
Fuel volatility is also changing the cadence of ocean freight cost management. As bunker surcharge adjustments move from quarterly to monthly cycles on some services, logistics teams face shorter windows for budget control and customer pricing. The result is a freight market where rates can move before contracts, forecasts, and inventory plans have caught up.
India’s infrastructure response is increasingly visible around gateway markets. The move towards denser, port-linked logistics can be seen in India’s first vertical warehouse project near JNPA, where land constraints and container flows are pushing developers towards more intensive logistics formats. That kind of infrastructure becomes more important as ports handle higher volumes and inland transport networks absorb more pressure.
For manufacturers using India as a sourcing base, the operating requirement is shifting from simple freight procurement to route resilience. A lower production-cost location can lose some of its advantage if inland delays, rollovers, and volatile surcharges erode lead-time reliability. Route options, customs discipline, buffer planning, and close coordination with freight partners are becoming part of sourcing strategy rather than a separate logistics function.
Asia Pacific freight markets are also being affected by demand from sectors that are less forgiving of delay. Semiconductors, AI infrastructure, high-tech equipment, and ecommerce flows all place pressure on airfreight and express capacity. Where those flows compete with traditional industrial and retail cargo, price and allocation can tighten quickly.
Dimerco’s June update points to a market where disruption is distributed across airspace, ports, fuel, and trade strategy. India’s long-term cargo opportunity remains substantial, but the immediate challenge is execution capacity: moving more freight through constrained gateways without turning diversification into another source of operational risk.
