сгенерировано ИИ
A huge rise in Colombia’s ecommerce imports are putting pressure on inbound air cargo capacity, with airlines and operators reporting thousands of tonnes arriving each week and demand for space continuing to grow.
“Colombia is absolutely booming,” said one airfreight wholesaler that specialises in perishables. “It’s incredible the amount of business going into Colombia.”
The wholesaler estimated weekly ecommerce imports at 3,000 to 4,000 tonnes – a figure supported by LATAM Cargo’s market intelligence.
He said one customer currently moving around 1,000 tonnes a week wanted to double that volume, but all available capacity was being taken immediately.
LATAM’s own imported ecommerce volumes on the US-Colombia corridor rose 53% in January–August. compared with the same period last year.
Simón Benzaquen, North America sales VP at LATAM Cargo Group, told Лодстар: “This strong performance was driven by an increase in operational frequencies into Bogotá, combined with the development and expansion of new regional destinations to streamline delivery times for end consumers.”
Meanwhile, figures supplied by analytics company Rotate indicate that ecommerce demand is growing faster than available capacity.
In its latest three-month comparison with the preceding period, Rotate recorded a 16.8% increase in ecommerce demand into Colombia, while overall cargo demand rose 1.1%. Capacity declined 6.7%. Against the equivalent three-month period last year, ecommerce demand increased 11.9%, overall demand rose 5.7% and capacity grew 4.7%.
The figures suggest a tightening market for inbound space, particularly for parcel traffic.
The wholesaler described a trade that pairs southbound ecommerce with northbound perishables, and said Colombia had become a recurring topic among industry contacts at the recent European cross-border ecommerce event in Liege.
“Everybody I spoke to there was talking about Colombia, Colombia, Colombia,” he said.
LATAM estimates approximately 99% of Colombia’s ecommerce import tonnage enters through Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, and Barranquilla. Its market intelligence indicates cross-border ecommerce demand has been growing at approximately 5% month on month this year.
Mr Benzaquen said LATAM was developing direct import services into regional gateways to shorten delivery times and improve network efficiency.
However, suggestions that the Colombian surge could partly reflect shipments being redirected to neighbouring markets remain unconfirmed.
The wholesaler questioned whether some imports might be travelling onwards, to Venezuela or Brazil. LATAM, by contrast, said the import volumes it processed into Bogotá were intended for Colombian consumers.
The airline also said it maintained direct access to Venezuela during the temporary disruption to its Caracas service, using recovery flights into Valencia rather than routing those shipments through Colombia. Those flights carried more than 180 tonnes of ecommerce cargo during the interruption.
LATAM offers more than 100 tonnes of weekly capacity across Caracas and Valencia, which Mr Benzaquen said fully met current demand. A second weekly Miami–Caracas frequency is scheduled to begin in November, taking capacity above 150 tonnes.
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