Alaska volcano disrupts airfreight

MOUNT Redoubt’s volcanic explosions in Alaska have seen cargo flights heavily disrupted to avoid the ash and smoke that is spilling across both the sky and ground. One eruption took ash up to 15,000 metres (50,000ft).

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is accepting a massive influx of 747s, diverted from Anchorage, up to 15 arrivals a day from 15 a week, mostly from Asian carriers, such as Korean Air Cargo, EVA Air Cargo and China Airlines Cargo. However, according to the state Department of Transportation, Anchorage’s airfreight operations, about 90 daily landings, have “virtually ceased”.

FedEx has rerouted Asian cargo flights to Seattle while UPS rerouted them to California.

Redoubt last erupted almost 20 years ago and geologists are unsure how violent its eruption may become. So far its activities are not “significant” but “conditions may evolve rapidly”.