Cargo throughput at Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Limited (Hactl) – the air cargo handler at the world’s largest air cargo hub – showed consistent modest growth throughout the second quarter of 2012. The positive figures and progressive improvement throughout the first half of 2012 mean that Hactl has returned to sustained year-on-year growth for the first time since February 2011.
Hactl’s throughput for the first half of 2012 totalled 1,325,502 tons (down fractionally on 2011), comprising 691,684 tons of exports, 317,746 tons of imports and 316,072 tons of transhipments.
Exports exceeded 2011 figures in April, May and June 2012, as did transhipments – contributing to positive overall figures for all three months. Export volume to the growing markets, such as Middle East and Southeast Asia, posted strong growth in the first half of 2012, up 10.4% and 13.4% respectively, compared to the same period in 2011. Transhipments continued to be the strongest aspect of Hactl’s business, with June’s figure of 55,655 tons coming close to previous records in December 2011 and March 2012.
Imports once again held overall tonnages back, with a 7.8% fall in the first half of 2012 compared to the same period in 2011. The Euro zone debt crisis remains unresolved: import volume from Europe in the first half of 2012 recorded a year-on-year drop of 13.2%. Nevertheless, import volume from the Middle East and Southeast Asia in the first half of 2012 remains strong, up 27.0% and 12.1% respectively, compared to the same period in 2011. On the other hand, June 2012 saw the best import growth since the end of 2010 (up 7.2% against 2011 at 58,322 tons).
“The recovery trend in our total figures continues, and we seem likely to return to modest annual growth once again, as 2012 progresses. But the balance of our business has been shifting for two years: exports are holding their own, while it is transhipments which are showing steady growth, and are now regularly on a level with imports,” said Hactl executive director Lilian Chan.
“Overall, 2012 is looking better than we anticipated, and better than many predicted. Hong Kong’s growing role as a transhipment hub for the entire region is clearly compensating for current instability in traffic to and from China. This underscores the importance of the Airport Authority’s plans to build a third runway: we need this extra capacity if we are to protect the airport’s role as a regional hub, and safeguard local employment and the economy of Hong Kong.”
The second quarter of 2012 also saw Hactl break its previous daily import record (3,770 tons of cargo handled in a single day), setting a new figure of 3,874 tons on 28 April.
Photo from www.hactl.com
