Trade volatility, tariff uncertainty, and the removal of the US de minimis exemption have reshaped cargo flows across the Americas in recent months, forcing ground handlers to pivot fast.
According to José Canales, SVP commercial Americas at Worldwide Flight Services (WFS), the market has been in constant flux – and at times abruptly so.
“I think it’s been a very dynamic last few months,” he said, pointing to geopolitical tensions, trade disagreements, and regulatory change. The removal of de minimis rules alone last year impacted a big percentage of the business flowing into North America with ecommerce.
The immediate effect was volatility, with some companies rushing to front-load inventories ahead of the rule change, creating short-term peaks, “and then afterwards it was just quiet”, he said.
As volumes cooled, airlines redeployed capacity. WFS has seen cargo that would once have entered the US diverted elsewhere.
“Airlines decided to reallocate capacity to other regions. So, we see cargo flows coming to the US heading down to Latin America, and definitely a lot of the cargo moving into Asia and over to Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.”
Rather than treat the downturn in certain flows as a structural setback, WFS moved to diversify.
“We do not like to call it challenges. We see it as opportunities,” Mr Canales said.
One of those opportunities has been closer integration with regulators. WFS recently opened a centralised examination station at JFK Airport in partnership with US Customs and Border Protection, designed to handle higher inspection volumes as scrutiny on inbound goods increases.
The company has invested in non-intrusive scanning and AI-driven data systems to profile shipments.
“Our goal is to build up these capabilities in key gateways so they can not only increase the knowledge on one particular gateway, but they can actually eventually communicate with each other and have a higher level of predictability of all the goods that are coming in,” he said.
José Canales
At the same time, WFS has moved into multimodal territory by converting ocean freight into air cargo at Los Angeles Airport (LAX). Containers arriving at neighbouring Long Beach are trucked to LAX, where they are broken down and rebuilt into airfreight pallets for onward transport. The model creates a mid‑cost, mid‑speed alternative that sits between traditional ocean and full airfreight.
“We’re positioning ourselves in a completely new industry, really leveraging our capacity and infrastructure in Los Angeles,” Mr Canales said. He described it as a middle‑ground solution for shippers that do not want to rely solely on slow ocean freight or pay for premium air.
Perishables remain a core pillar, particularly at Miami International Airport, which he said accounted for more than 75% of US perishable imports. Valentine’s Day again showed just how many flowers move north from Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. To protect these delicate shipments, WFS introduced direct‑transfer processes that cut down handling and keep the flowers in better condition.
Beyond perishables, the handler has carved out specialised capabilities for hyperscalers, semiconductors, and pharma, mapping clusters and investing in GDP- and CEIV-aligned facilities.
“Pharma, high-volume products, hi-tech products, mainly related to data centres, continue to provide steady volumes,” he noted, suggesting these segments had been more resilient than ecommerce.
Tariff threats and policy uncertainty continue to cloud planning.
“I think it’s been challenging, but it has made us more resilient,” he said. “It is definitely impacting us and our ability to really maintain our infrastructure and labour force at the levels we were at before.” He noted that resources had been reassigned into new service lines as traditional volumes fluctuated.
Meanwhile, Latin America is emerging as a strategic outlet for displaced ecommerce flows.
“Ecommerce will always find its way to some market. The level of adoption is so low for certain markets that there is a need for many of these products,” Mr Canales, former head of Panalpina Brazil, said.
WFS is seeing volumes routed through Los Angeles and Miami into Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina, as Chinese ecommerce operators expand southwards. He added: “There’s definitely a lot of opportunity down there and we want to be part of that.”
Despite near-term turbulence, WFS continues to back infrastructure. At JFK, it opened a new $250m cargo facility – the first newbuild there in 25 years – and has also invested in new facilities in Atlanta and Chicago, a strategy reflecting a view that volatility will eventually ease.
“I do not believe that this can go on for a long time,” Mr Canales said. If and when volumes normalise, WFS expects to emerge with broader capabilities and a more diversified portfolio.
For now, the view from North America suggests shifting tradelanes, a reset in ecommerce, and a clear warning for handlers that do not adapt.
