AI equipment imports choke Taoyuan warehouses, slowing air cargo

Uncollected imports are filling cargo warehouses at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. Too few dollies are left to unload aircraft, and handling for other freight is slowing, The Loadstar reported on 5 November, citing local forwarders¹.

Seko Logistics told customers in a 4 November advisory that China Airlines, EVA Air and Starlux had issued notices on 2 November. The carriers warned that higher import volumes were putting pressure on staff, dollies and handling capacity¹. According to The Loadstar, the advisory also reported selected China Airlines freighter cancellations, including US-bound services, without naming the flights¹. The airport is Taiwan's largest and is the main hub for all three carriers³.

Ground handling, not lift, is the pinch

The figures published with the report point to a problem on the ground rather than a shortage of aircraft. Scheduled inbound widebody freighter capacity to Taiwan rose 20% in the week from 29 October to 4 November, against the previous seven days, according to Rotate data cited by The Loadstar¹. That followed a 15% fall in the week before¹.

Capacity from Narita to Taipei rose by about 1,000 tonnes, or 49%. Shanghai Pudong added 595 tonnes, up 76%. Hong Kong added 572 tonnes, up 20%, and Los Angeles to Taipei rose 66%, adding 519 tonnes¹.

The jam starts with imports that nobody has collected. One forwarder told The Loadstar that cargo from early September was still in the ground handler's warehouse¹. "There is so much freight sitting in the GHA warehouse and this not being collected by customers," the forwarder said¹. GHA means ground handler. The shortage of dollies meant cargo could not be unloaded from aircraft and towed for breakdown, the forwarder added¹. The China Airlines warehouse was said to be the fullest, and the bridge between the main terminal and the ground handler was packed with loaded dollies, slowing other cargo¹.

Why AI imports are piling up

Forwarders tied the pile-up to equipment for AI and semiconductor production arriving faster than factories could take delivery¹. The reason for the slow collection is not settled. "We are not 100% sure why customers are not collecting the freight," one source said, adding that customers' manufacturing facilities were not ready for the equipment¹.

Exports are affected too. Seko warned of longer processing times for exports and changes to shipment departure schedules¹. Outbound widebody freighter capacity from Taiwan to the US rose 4% in the same week, but China Airlines' share fell 8%, or 263 tonnes, while EVA, UPS and Atlas added capacity¹.

The incident sits inside a wider demand story. Expeditors' air volumes rose 13% in the third quarter and air revenues 51.4% to $1.5bn, with hyperscaler demand and shipments from suppliers to AI infrastructure a significant driver⁴. Lufthansa's logistics division, which includes Lufthansa Cargo, lifted revenue 26% to €1bn and earnings before interest and tax 230% to €162m, helped by semiconductor demand⁵. Emirates SkyCargo has launched a product for server racks, semiconductors and GPUs, and said it moved more than 700 tonnes of AI infrastructure in July alone⁶. DHL's Supply Chain unit has new contracts up 42% this year, with data centres among its growth sectors⁷.

AI-related goods have contributed to 5% to 6% growth in air cargo traffic year to date through October, offsetting declines in e-commerce volume, FreightWaves reported⁶.

Rates were already climbing

TAC Index's global Baltic Air Freight Index slipped 1.1% in the week to 2 November. It stayed 22.8% above a year earlier, with China-US rates rising strongly and rates from Taiwan also up, The Loadstar reported². No Taipei-specific figure appeared in the material reviewed.

Hong Kong to North America, the main published benchmark for Asia-US air freight, ended October at $8.17 per kg, 38.7% above a year earlier. The October average of $7.64 per kg was 34% up on 2025 and above September's $7.02 per kg⁸. Hong Kong to Europe averaged $5.31 per kg for the month, up 15.7% on a year earlier⁸. Jet fuel was up 118.5% in the week to 23 October against a year earlier, IATA/Platts data show⁸.

Forecasts point in different directions. TAC said pressure for rates to rise further was still increasing⁸. Rotate chief executive Ryan Keyrouse said AI-related growth was flattening: monthly cloud computing volumes peaked at just under 100,000 tonnes in April 2026 and were about 85,000 tonnes in August⁹.

What is not confirmed

The congestion is documented by forwarders and by Seko's advisory as reported by The Loadstar, not by the airport or the airlines. No statement from the Taoyuan airport operator, Taiwan's aviation regulator, China Airlines, EVA Air or Starlux was found. The advisory itself was not public, based on the material reviewed. The Loadstar said it did not establish whether the China Airlines cancellations resulted from the handling congestion¹.

No public dwell-time figure, no notice of higher storage charges at Taoyuan warehouses and no carrier surcharge specific to Taiwan was found. October cargo tonnage for the airport had not been published in the material reviewed.

What to do now

• Confirm the handling chain: which warehouse and carrier will take the shipment, and whether the consignee can collect as soon as it lands¹.
• Move export cut-offs earlier, because Seko flagged longer export processing and departure changes¹.
• Split time-critical lots and test an alternate gateway. Korean Air's upgraded Incheon terminal lifted container processing from 18 to 30 units an hour and handling capacity by more than 25%¹⁰. Singapore's Changi handled about 1.66m tonnes in the first nine months, up 8.5%².
• Check who pays for storage and delay under your air waybill and Incoterms before the cargo arrives, not after.