He has already alluded to
the tariff war with the US;
further actions revolve around a
diminution in flight schedules.
Narita to Shanghai, which was
planned to accommodate seven
flights a week, will be reduced
to six flights whilst the Narita to
Chicago freighter route (which
includes charter flights) will
drop from eight planned flights
a week to seven.
Last year, when ALI looked
at the Asian marketplace,
Sugiguchi had noted the
growing importance of the Asia-
North America trade routes. Had
he managed to exploit this?
“As mentioned earlier, we
have always been flexible with
the demand and will continue
adjusting our space based on
market trends. Meanwhile,
we see the demand for special
cargo, such as semi-conductor
manufacturing equipment and
aircraft engines, is relatively
stable. We will strengthen sales
in these special commodities to
optimise our B777F revenues.”
And for the rest of 2019 –
and beyond?
“The airfreight market is
still unstable because of the
US-China trade war and we
will look carefully at each
industry trend, especially at the
possibility of manufacturing
base moves from China to
other Asian countries. However,
we expect some commodities,
such as high-tech, to recover
gradually from October or
November, thanks to 5G-related
demands.”
Slowdown apparent - but
optimism ahead
At Hong Kong International
airport, Cecilia Lam notes that
the station has been the world’s
busiest cargo airport since 2010.
The airport handled some 5m
tonnes of cargo in the last 12
months (August 2018 to July 2019), although this represented a
decrease of 4.1% compared to the same period last year.
The key types of commodities are machinery parts,
telecommunications, fashion and consumer goods. In the financial
year of 2018/19, North America, south-east Asia and Europe
represented the top three markets, which contributed 18%, 17% and
14% respectively to Hong Kong’s cargo throughput.
She adds that there has been a slowdown in the overall air cargo
volumes handled by the airport since the latter part of 2018, which
coincided with the escalation of the US-China trade war. That trend
has continued this year.
However, amid the challenges, Hong Kong International
continues to proceed with its cargo infrastructure expansion: for
example, the DHL Central Asia Hub is targeted for completion
by 2022. By then, the annual throughput of the expanded hub
is expected to go up by 50% to 1.06m tonnes. Meanwhile, the
Premium Logistics Centre (known as the Centre) at Kwo Lo Wan
in the South Cargo Precinct of the airport is under development
through a joint venture led by Cainiao Network, the logistics arm
of the Alibaba Group. With an estimated gross floor area of 380,000
square metres, the Centre will be the third-largest warehouse in
Hong Kong. The Centre will be future-proofed, with an array of high
specification facilities, such as ramp access to all floors and will make
use of large-scale robotics and automation as well as temperature
control provision. Scheduled to commence operation in 2023, the
Centre will become Alibaba’s smart hub in Asia and serve the fastgrowing
global e-commerce business.
The airport continues to enhance its capacity and capability in
handling high added-value goods and temperature-controlled cargo,
such as pharmaceuticals. With all airport cargo handling operators
attaining IATA CEIV Pharma Certification, Hong Kong now offers
pharma shippers high handling standards. Furthermore, it has
become the world’s first airport community to receive the IATA CEIV
Fresh Certification. To provide end-to-end temperature-controlled
transportation on the apron, the airport has acquired over 20 cool
dollies for community shared use. Finally, apron shelters will be
built at different ramp locations to protect temperature-sensitive
shipments from the elements.
In closing, Lam anticipates a challenging environment for the
rest of 2019, as the global economy continues to face uncertainties,
coupled with the fact that the Sino-US trade war may not be
resolved in the near term.
Headwinds at Cathay Pacific
Cathay Pacific declined to comment on the year as a whole, opting
instead to compare August 2019 with the same month in 2018.
According to the Group’s Chief Customer and Commercial
Officer, Ronald Lam, combined Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon
traffic figures for August 2019 reveal decreases in the number of
passengers carried and the amount of cargo and mail uplifted
compared to August 2018. The two airlines carried 161,394 tonnes
of cargo and mail in August, a drop of 14% compared to last year’s
statistics. The cargo and mail load factor fell by 7.5 percentage points
to 60.9%. Capacity, measured in available freight tonne kilometres
EFFICIENCY IN
HONG KONG
HACTL’s CEO Wilson Kwong
describes the cargo handler’s
recent investments in the area
of digitalisation, starting with its
smart cargo retrieval initiative,
which saw the deployment of
RFID as of last October. “For sheer
efficiency, it’s worth it,” he says of
the roll-out. Images are married to
barcodes, which are married to a
GPS location ID, he explains.
“Automation is a big focus
for us. We’re always looking
at ways to enhance efficiency.
We’re looking at cargo build-up
technology as it is increasingly
difficult to recruit cargo handlers
– but it’s a very highly skilled job.
People are looking into it.”
The cargo handler’s dedicated
performance enhancement team is
currently researching auto-guided
vehicles for use in the terminals,
as well as tractors and fork-lifts,
and mobile hand-held devices.
“Digitalisation is the area that
the industry at large should be
focussing on,” he adds. “This will
help with the creation of a data
platform and efficiency. But first
of all you need standardisation.
Lots of things need to be agreed
first and standards are slow to
be implemented - but I’m still
hopeful.”
www.airlogisticsinternational.com October 2019 9
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