Day 19: What Shein and Temu are doing to global air freight (and emissions)

6/18/2024

Day 19: What Shein and Temu are doing to global air freight (and emissions)

It took about a week for my first Shein order to arrive. It came in a nondescript white plastic package, preceded by notifications from courier firm Evri. But this package had an epic journey all the way from China, one of hundreds of thousands — perhaps millions — dispatched around the world from Shein and fellow e-commerce giant Temu.

The sheer volume of packages sent out by china-based online retailers like Shein and Temu is reshaping the air cargo industry in unexpected ways.

The two companies have direct-to-consumer model, shipping individually addressed packages straight from factories in China. On arrival, they’re dispatched by local couriers to consumers. The week it took for my package to arrive was fairly typical according to what I’ve read.

I’m just one of the hundreds of thousands – maybe millions – of consumers receiving packages from Shein and other direct-to-consumer Chinese online retailers every day.

Recent reports from Reuters reveal Shein ships a staggering 5,000 tonnes of goods daily, while Temu is not far behind at 4,000 tonnes. According to a US Congressional report highlights that Shein and Temu collectively send about 600,000 packages to the United States every single day.

Altogether, the packages sent by the two retailers plus others such as Alibaba.com require flights by approximately 108 Boeing 777 freighters every day, reported Reuters.

Air freight, of course, accounts for a much greater amount of emissions proportionate to the weight of the cargo than sea freight. But who these days want to wait six weeks for an online order to be shipped around the world by sea?

This surge in shipping volumes is on such a huge scale it’s distorting the global air freight market, by pushing up the costs of air freight from major hubs like Guangzhou and Hong Kong. There’s no longer a cheaper slack season in the industry; instead exporters face a struggle to secure space on air freighters at all.

Overall, since December 2023, global demand for air freight has been growing at a double-digit pace. The recent decision by ocean carriers to bypass the Red Sea/Suez route has further intensified the demand for air freight, creating a perfect storm for the industry in 2024. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the demand for air freight in the first quarter of 2024 has already exceeded the peak levels seen in the first quarter of 2021.

While my personal shopping experience was fine, it’s clear that it’s in no way sustainable to keep shipping those individually (plastic) wrapped parcels from China to shoppers in Europe, the US and other markets. Yet, that’s easy to forget when fast-fashion finds make their way from factories in China to our doorsteps so very smoothly.

Everything I wore on Day 19: