Volume 15, Issue 29


THE WE EKLY NEWS PAP ER FOR THE AIR CARGO PROF E S S IONAL


K+N ‘ back on track’ after half-year results


HACTL optimistic about rest of this year 2


8


HONG KONG Air Cargo Terminals Ltd (HACTL) has reported recovery in its handling volumes for the second quarter of this year. The biggest han- dler at Hong Kong International air- port processed 691,567 tonnes of


Potential in Latin


American market


10


Logistics service


providers invest


transhipped cargo processed was up significantly – by 12.6 percent. Imports were down somewhat, due


largely –HACTL noted – to the Eu- rozone crisis. Import traffic from re- gions such as the Middle East and South-east Asia have nevertheless remained strong this year. The quarterly


figures represent HACTL’s first pe- riod of sustained y e a r - o n - y e a r growth since Feb- ruary 2011 and, according to exec- utive director Lil- ian Chan: “The


cargo during the three months, up by 2.4 percent compared to the period between April and June 2011. While the amount of export freight handled rose slightly, the quantity of


recovery trend in our total figures con- tinues, and we seem likely to return to modest annual growth once again, as 2012 progresses.” She continued: “Overall, 2012 is


looking better than we anticipated, and better than many predicted. Hong Kong’s growing role as a tran- shipment hub for the entire region is clearly compensating for the 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,” Chan pointed out. Over the first half of this year,


HACTL processed 1.3 million tonnes of cargo, more or less equivalent to the same six months of 2011. In June, it handled 231,858 tonnes


of freight, up by 4.8 percent on a year- on-year comparison. There were year- on-year increases in exports, imports and transhipment cargo during the month.


... but IATA survey reports mixed expectations for the months ahead


THE LATEST International Air Transport Association (IATA) survey has revealed that airline executives – chief financial officers and heads of cargo – approached for their views are expecting cargo yields to continue to


decline over the next 12 months, but that they are also expecting to see some limited improvement in freight traffic volumes. Airline executives’ expectations of the cargo market were not as low in


the July survey as they had been in the January one, but there was no marked improvement from April’s level and, IATA observed: “This level of confi- dence is consistent with only very modest market growth.”


12 Germany


maintains a competitive edge


IEA warns of threat to Ireland - US trade


THE IRISH Exporters Association (IEA) has put an urgent request to the Irish government not to go through with the sale of its 25 percent stake in Irish flag- carrier Aer Lingus, warning of dire conse- quences for the Irish export industry if its US air freight services are not retained. “The Aer Lingus flights to the USA


carry approximately 52 percent of the value of our exports and 43 percent of all imports from the USA… The daily air freight connection to the US has been at the heart of Irish export growth for sev- eral decades,” observes John Whelan, chief executive at the IEA, citing the pro- posed sale as a risk to the “18 billion euro (US$22.1 billion) pharmaceutical and medical technology that is exported by air freight to the USA and 4.5 bil- lion euro ($5.5 billion) of high-tech imports required for a wide range of manufacturing companies in Ireland”. Whelan proposed that the government should keep its shareholding,


Whelan sounds a cautionary note


23 July 2012


as divesting ownership might present the airline as a potential takeover target. He expressed concerns that without government influence there is no guarantee that the critical air cargo service link to the US in particu- lar will be retained. “Ryanair have a policy of not handling air cargo across their entire fleet


and hence if they procured the dominant stake in Aer Lingus are likely to drop air cargo handling. This is not a risk that should be taken with any potential buyer of a majority stake in Aer Lingus,” Whelan cautioned. “Sitting on our hands and hoping that the British Competition Author-


ity, or the EU, will block a sale of the government stake to Ryanair is not the way for a sensible government to proceed, when one of its key strate- gic assets is at stake,” he concluded.


WORLD NEWS P2, 3, 4 & 6 ● PEOPLE P4 ● TRADEFINDER P15


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