Amid the Worst Logistics Crisis... Amazon Plans to Secure Over 10 Additional Cargo Planes

(Photo by Amazon)

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] Amazon, facing an unprecedented logistics shortage and an urgent need to secure cargo capacity, is moving to acquire additional cargo aircraft for the Asia-US route.

On the 13th (local time), Bloomberg News, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported that Amazon is pursuing a plan to secure more than 10 cargo planes of two models: Boeing 777-300ER and Airbus A330-300.

Both models are medium-to-large aircraft capable of long-haul flights, and Amazon is expected to deploy the newly acquired aircraft on routes from Asia, including China, to the United States.

Sources said that whether Amazon will directly purchase or lease and operate the newly acquired aircraft has not yet been decided.

This new aircraft acquisition is expected to intensify the logistics delivery competition between Amazon and logistics companies such as UPS and FedEx.

Amazon Air, Amazon's air cargo transportation organization, purchased 11 used aircraft from Delta Air Lines and others in January this year and put them into delivery service.

Amazon Air currently operates 75 aircraft, including leased planes, serving about 40 airports, and plans to increase the fleet to 85 aircraft by the end of next year.

In August, Amazon secured and began operating a terminal at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport to function as an Amazon Air air logistics hub, and in November last year, it opened a European air logistics hub at Leipzig/Halle Airport in Germany.

Meanwhile, the United States is experiencing the worst overall maritime logistics chaos in history. Cargo imported from Asia is stuck without even docking at major West Coast ports such as Los Angeles (LA) and Long Beach.

These ports, which handle about a quarter of US import and export volumes, have seen a 30% increase in cargo throughput compared to the previous year, but labor shortages across all sectors?from shipping to ports, transportation, and warehousing?have been prolonged due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Currently, there are 81 vessels waiting offshore unable to dock at LA and Long Beach ports, and it takes up to a month from arrival to unloading.

Since the ports are not operating 24/7 year-round, concerns arose that handling the increased cargo ahead of the year-end shopping season would be insufficient, prompting the White House to form a task force to encourage 24-hour operations at the LA and Long Beach ports.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.