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Freight forwarders, airlines and shippers are still counting the cost of the disastrous opening of Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals' (HACTL) SuperTerminal 1 complex at Chek Lap Kok (CLK).

  The eventual bill is expected to run into hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars, according to industry sources.

  Cathay Pacific estimated its own losses at about $400 million.

  Lufthansa Cargo said the problems had cost it several million deutschemarks and the loss of about a dozen customers because it was unable to trans- ship cargo between HACTL and its facility at Asia Airfreight Terminals. Other carriers, including British Airways, have reported a similar loss.

  It is not only airlines that have suffered. The Hong Kong Association of Freight Forwarding Agents (HAFFA) said several forwarding firms had failed since the airport's opening on July 6.

  This is blamed as much on the cost of servicing the airport and the changing nature of the forwarding business as it is on HACTL's difficulties.

 Anthony Lau Siu-wing, HAFFA chairman, said there were still difficulties at Chek Lap Kok even though the import and export cargo had been totally resumed at SuperTerminal 1 on August 18.

 All cargo shipments were suspended immediately after the airport's opening while HACTL tried to resolve the problems, shifting some of its operations back to Kai Tak.

 Mr Lau said HACTL appeared to be doing its best to rectify the problems which had been compounded because the new terminal was considerable larger than the Kai Tak facility and had four ramp handlers instead of one.

  'We hope and expect the good old days in a few weeks time,' Mr Lau said.

  Retailers, too, lost millions of dollars because of delayed and spoiled shipments, particularly perishable goods.

 Not only have the difficulties hit companies hard, they have damaged Hong Kong's position as a leading transshipment and cargo handling hub.

  Now, two months after the airport's opening is the $7.8-billion SuperTerminal 1 complex beginning to operate as HACTL originally envisaged?   A HACTL spokesman confirmed that cargo throughput at the terminal exceeded the 4,000 tonnes daily average forecast for the facility for the first time on August 30 when 4,241 tonnes was handled. This included both import and export cargo.

  The spokesman said HACTL's main objective was to maintain this level of service, but added that the company was considering various proposals to restore the high regard it enjoyed at Kai Tak.

  No concrete plans have been approved, so it is not yet known in what form these ideas might take.

 There is still some sympathy for HACTL despite the costly problems, largely because it is seen as an early scapegoat for other bungles at the same time.

  Anthony Charter, HACTL managing director, had indicated last December that he would prefer the opening of the airport to be August.

  He said the six to seven-month delay in constructing the SuperTerminal 1 complex meant the company could just about achieve 50 per cent capacity if the airport opened in April.

  This would increase to 75 per cent for a July, early-August opening and 100 per cent when HACTL's franchise from the Airport Authority was due to begin in mid-August.

  What Mr Charter could not foresee was the intense pressure HACTL would come under from the Airport Authority and the Government to begin full cargo- handling operations at Chek Lap Kok when the airport began commercial operations on July 5.

  This was exacerbated by computer problems and staff shortages within the terminal complex and the lack of trained staff at the three ramp-handling firms that are now being blamed for causing the chaos.

  Three probes, one by the Government, another by the Ombudsman and the third by legislators, have been launched into the events that led up to and occurred after the opening.

  But HACTL is also facing a wider Asian-based problem - declining cargo throughput - that is symptomatic of the regional economic downturn.

  Figures for the first six months of this year (before Chek Lap Kok opened) show air cargo throughput fell 1.6 per cent to 765.4 million tonnes.

  An even more worrying trend is that throughput appears to be falling monthly. In June, it fell 5.9 per cent to 129.99 million tonnes, compared with the same period last year. HACTL had anticipated a 4.3 per cent rise.



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Freight industry still counting cost after CLK opening