Hong Kong transhipments soar in first six months
20 / 03 / 2015
TRANSHIPMENTS through Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals (Hactl) – the Chinese hub’s biggest independent cargo handler – increased by a whopping 34.2 per cent in the first half of this year, writes Nigel Tomkins, managing director.
Overall, the handler saw a 11.5 per cent growth in tonnage through its SuperTerminal 1 base in the first six months of 2014.
Imports increased 13.6 per cent year-on-year, to a total of 243,287 tonnes and exports grew by 8.8 per cent, reaching 489,624 tonnes.
Transhipments showed the largest percentage growth, to 64,849 tonnes.
“The growth in our transhipment traffic is particularly interesting, as it reflects the continuing development of Hong Kong as the preferred regional transhipment hub,” says Mark Whitehead, the handling company’s chief executive.
Hactl remains Hong Kong’s largest cargo handler, catering for more than 100 scheduled passenger and all-cargo airlines, and serving some 1000 forwarders.
It operates the airport’s largest cargo facility, with a design capacity of 3.5 million tonnes per annum.
“When we parted company with Cathay Pacific in 2013, we expected a long uphill struggle to replace that significant element of our business.
“In reality, we have quickly made up a substantial proportion of the traffic through new account wins, and organic growth among our 100 airline clients,” Whitehead adds.
“The transhipment result is gratifying because it also rewards our recent drive to promote Hacis, our added-value logistics arm, which provides scheduled road feeder connections into and out of mainland China.
“More and more carriers are using this as a safe platform to extend their reach beyond Hong Kong.”
