Hong Kong traffic falls 186 per cent

HONG Kong’s airfreight traffic fell 18.6 per cent in May, year-on-year.
According to Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Limited (Hactl) Hong Kong International Airport handled 177,980 metric tonnes of cargo in May.
Cumulative tonnage for the first five months of the year was 815,803 tonnes, down 23.0 per cent compared with the same period last year.
Imports were down 16.4 per cent to 49,597 tonnes. Aggregate import volume for the first five months was 219,345 tonnes, down 21.8 per cent.
Steepest decline was from Europe and the US, which decreased 19.7 per cent and 16.5 per cent year-on-year respectively.
Export volume for May and for the first five months were 90,637 tonnes and 417,387 tonnes respectively, down 23.3 per cent and 27.5 per cent year-on-year.
Despite the sharp decline of over 30 per cent of export tonnage throughput to Europe, export cargoes to Middle East and Africa registered a 21 per cent and 21.5 per cent year-on-year growth respectively.
Transshipment volume was 37,746 tonnes in May, recording an 8.3 per cent decline compared with last year. Cumulative transshipment tonnage for the first five months was 179,071 tonnes, down 11.6 per cent year-on-year.
“The negative performance reflected largely the impact of continuing global recession and the new but serious impact of influenza A(H1N1) virus, further weakening the aviation market and resulting in airlines reducing flight frequencies," says Airport Authority chief executive officer Stanley Hui, adding that he expected the trend to continue through June.