The eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland has brought air cargo in Northern Europe to a halt and disrupted services around the world.

Several cargo carriers in China grounded flights and stopped accepting cargo due to the unavailability of warehouse space at airports, according to Reuters.

To handle intercontinental traffic, airlines are considering setting up hub activities in airports in Southern European, North African and Middle Eastern airports.

Incheon International Airport in South Korea, which has cancelled 20 inbound and 25 outbound cargo flights, suffered 3,216t of lost shipments to Europe between 16 and 19 April.

On a positive note, flights from some parts of Europe are expected to resume operations today following an agreement by the EU to free up airspace closed by the ash cloud.

The deal has brought some respite to the industry, which is losing at least $250m a day due to the closure of European airspace.

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Airports in Scotland reopened at 06.00 GMT, despite being warned by UK air traffic controllers that a new ash cloud was heading for major air routes.

The UK’s National Air Traffic Services said in a statement that the volcano eruption in Iceland had strengthened and a new cloud of ash was spreading south-east towards the UK.

EU Transport Commission vice-president Siim Kallas said that many flight services have resumed, with flights leaving Amsterdam and Frankfurt late on Monday.

Germany will mostly maintain its no-fly zone until 12.00 GMT, Italian airspace will open from 06.00 GMT and France will reopen some airports to create air corridors to Paris.

European aviation control agency Eurocontrol said flights may be permitted in a wider zone with a lower concentration of ash, and has estimated up to 9,000 flights to have operated in Europe on Monday, a third of normal volume.