Mike King, Special Correspondent | Jun 18, 2012 9:39AM EDT
Freight volumes handled at Hong Kong International Airport in May saw year-over-year growth for the first time since March 2011.
Tonnage increased by 1.1 percent to 333,000 tonnes last month as exports expanded by 3 percent. Managers said traffic to and from South East Asia had outperformed other regions.
Over the first five months of 2012 cargo handled at HKIA is 0.9% lower than the same period of 2011 and on a rolling 12-month basis is down 4.5 percent.
Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Limited, the airport’s leading handler by volume, saw exports and transshipment throughput in May increase by 1.1 percent and 9.4 percent, respectively, but over the first five months of the year total volumes are 1 percent lower than a year earlier.
Rival handler Asia Airfreight Terminal recorded a 3 percent year-over-year volume drop last month, with imports down 3 percent. AAT has seen its export traffic decline by 16 percent in the first five months of the year.
“The uncertainties in the market continue to dampen confidence,” said Kenneth Yeung, AAT General Manager for Corporate Development. “AAT remains cautious of the economic developments in the months ahead.”
The latest figures from Airports Council International revealed that in the first four months of the year air freight volumes handled at Asia Pacific airports declined by 1.6 percent. HKIA was the leading airport in the region by volume followed by Shanghai Pudong, Seoul Incheon, Dubai and Tokyo Narita.
Patti Chau, ACI Asia-Pacific Regional Director, said air freight in the Asia-Pacific area was still suffering from the impact of “worldwide economic uncertainties.”
Contact Mike King at michael@borderline.eu.com.
