Border closings by some nation and traveling restriction meant to curb spread of the novel coronavirus have created less belly capacity on rider plane to carry extremely perishable cargo , a concern for California agricultural exporters as the season for exportation crop such as cherry approaches .

Though veg are the more common California farm exportation going by air this time of year , Chris Connell , chairman of Los Angeles - based Commodity Forwarders , tell farming exporter will presently move into the peak time of year for air shipment as berry and cherry are lifted to cardinal exportation markets in Asia .

" If I was an farming shipper right now , of course I ’d be very concerned , " said Brandon Fried , executive director of the Airforwarders Association in Washington , D.C.

transfer cargo to China and Korea via air has already been made more hard since February , due to reduced flight of steps as seek to contain the virus ramped up , Connell say .

Now , with flight of steps reduction spread out for Italy and the rest of Europe , as well as for Australia , Southeast Asia and the Middle East , Connell said perishable freight such as fruits , veg , flowers , meats and dairy products will more and more compete for space on aircraft with other good and express shipment .

Cost to fell perishables , in particular to Europe , could rise 25 % to 30 % , Connell gauge . Fried sound out he has get word freight pace could increase " upwards of three times what they normally are . "

Because shipping lines have canceled glide from China to the U.S. due to a want of cargo as productivity dropped in China , empty containers continue to pile up in the U.S. waiting for ships to bring them back . This has place increased press on airfreight capacity , Fried said . He noted that exporters who face problems shipping out of China are now looking for flights to move products to the U.S.

" That ’s fit to be more of a challenge because they ’re not going to be the only ones at the airport , " Fried said . " The flight are cash in one’s chips to get full because demand is mellow . That ’s move to be a challenge for all shipper , regardless of what good you ’re ship . "

Fried said the U.S. 30 - twenty-four hours ban on travel from Europe could further reduce the cargo electrical capacity in the belly of passenger jets that typically haul about 50 % to 60 % of the trans - Atlantic load . Though the provision of freighters is " strong , " he say , there are n’t enough of them to occupy the vacuum forget by passenger jets .

In world-wide , more product are moved via freighters to the Asian market , whereas cargo run low to Europe tends to jerk rides on rider airplanes , Connell said . Together , freighters and wide - body passenger aircraft workplace " hired man in hand " to bestow enough space " to allow us to facilitate our customers get their goods to grocery at a sensible price , " he added .

Crops such as cherry red that are more probable to move by line commencement harvesting in May , but Connell said the fear now is whether there will be enough rider aircraft back in the air travel by then to improve overall capacity . At this point , he said it ’s uncertain what volume can be moved and at what cost " until we get unaired to May . "

" It simply occur down to butts in seat , " he said . " There is a knockdown effect as people move less , and right now it ’s too early to severalise what the full implications are past May . Our hope is that we see people resume locomotion for business , joy and education . "

Source : California Farm Bureau Federation ( Ching Lee )