Hong Kong joins Shanghai with bumper October cargo volumes

China’s top two cargo hubs, Hong Kong and Shanghai, both enjoyed bumper volume rises in October.
Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) handled 420,000 tonnes of cargo, up 7.1% from the same period last year, while year to date volumes grew 1.9% to 3.7m tonnes compared with previous year.
A spokesperson for HKIA said: “The strong growth was mainly attributed to the robust 13% year-on-year growth in transhipments. Amongst the key trading regions, traffic to / from Europe and Southeast Asia increased most significantly during the month.”
While Shanghai airport’s combined cargo throughputs are not available, the hub’s largest cargo handler, PACTL, handled 153,607 tonnes in October, a volume growth of 8.9% year-on-year and the highest monthly tonnage in the ground handler’s history.
On a rolling 12-month basis, HKIA cargo throughput rose by 1.3% to 4.4m tonnes during the past 12 months.
Hong Kong and Shanghai were two of the top three cargo airports in 2015, separated by FedEx home hub Memphis. In 2015, Hong Kong was the world’s largest cargo hub, handling just under 4.4m tonnes, while Shanghai was in third place with 3.7m tonnes.