Hong Kong Air Freight Fell 4.3 Percent Last Month

Throughput at Kong Kong International Airport in December fell 4.3 percent year-over-year, pulling annual traffic down 4.6 percent at the world’s largest cargo airport.

Export traffic last month plummeted 7 percent year-over-year as Europe and North America volumes suffered double-digit declines. Import traffic shrank 5 percent year-over-year, while transhipment traffic expanded 3 percent in the same period.

“Cargo tonnage may decline further due to the slowdown in global trade but the pace of decline will likely be less than what we have seen in 2011,” said Stanley Hui Hon-chung, CEO of Airport Authority Hong Kong.

He said the airport would continue to develop its multimodal links with mainland China this year, particularly to the Pearl River Delta.

“Notwithstanding worldwide economic uncertainty in the near term, we are confident about the medium- and long-term growth prospects of HKIA," said Hui Hon-chung.

-- Contact Mike King at michael@borderline.eu.com