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SCMP Reporter

Hong Kong has for the first time become the world's busiest centre for international air cargo, surpassing Japan's Narita Airport for the top spot in the 1996 year.

  The territory's new-found leadership in the area looks set to carry on during this year, with air cargo throughput understood to be up 18 per cent in the three months to March 31.

  The opening of the new airport at Chek Lap Kok in 1998 will provide a further boost.

  For the past few years, Kai Tak airport has been the bridesmaid as Narita, the main airport servicing Tokyo, dominated the cross-border air cargo market.

  However, Kai Tak has been steadily expanding its cargo, despite concerns Hong Kong would be unable to properly increase its cargo volume until the move to the new airport.  Figures released to Business Post prepared by the Airports Council International show that Hong Kong's air cargo imports and exports grew by about 7 per cent in 1996 to 1,563,492 tonnes.

  Kai Tak's supposed air cargo capacity is 1.5 million tonnes.

  The result left it just over 1,000 tonnes clear of Narita, which saw cargo throughput fall by 2.7 per cent during 1996.

  Next was Miami, followed by Frankfurt and New York's Kennedy Airport.

  The managing director of Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals (Hactl), Anthony Charter, has described the result as a triumph for Kai Tak, adding that the transition to top spot augured well for Hong Kong's future performance in the international air cargo area at Chek Lap Kok.

  'Everyone seems to be ashamed of Kai Tak. They seem to think of it as a tin pot airport,' he said.

  'What these figures show, though, is how efficiently it operates, despite its limitations.'  Mr Charter said Kai Tak had been 'steadily catching' Narita's tonnage on the air cargo front for 'the past five or six years'.

  It was imperative now for Kai Tak to keep gaining ground until it was replaced by the new airport.

  'The important thing for everybody is, the more tonnage we handle now at Kai Tak, the bigger the base tonnage at Chek Lap Kok will be,' he said.

  'If we get good growth this year, we will start from a higher base than originally forecast.'  Chek Lap Kok will be capable of handling three million tonnes of cargo a year.

  Hactl has a monopoly on the processing of cargo in Hong Kong, but at Chek Lap Kok will be forced to compete with a largely Singapore-owned operator.



HK top of the air cargo world