Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Ltd (Hactl) had an annualised 20 per cent increase in air cargo throughput to 1.57 million tonnes last year. Hactl's marketing and customer service director Mark Ashall said while there were signs air cargo demand recovered in the second quarter, the strong year-on-year volume growth was mostly the result of increased demand during the last four months of the year. 'Volumes continued to be reasonably healthy during the second half of December, normally a quiet time for the industry,' he said. Mr Ashall said the substantial yearly gain was due to: strong export growth to the United States; a significant rise in shipments to European markets; and an inventory build-up ahead of the new millennium. Mr Ashall said exports to the US - representing 30 per cent of air cargo traffic - rose by 13 per cent last year to 277,000 tonnes. The growth to the European market, especially to France, Italy and Britain, was between 15 and 20 per cent last year. Mr Ashall said the volume growth this month had been higher than last year. He said he expected Hactl, which handles 80 per cent of Hong Kong's air cargo, to have moderate growth this year. 'It is unlikely we will be able to replicate last year's growth which had been very strong,' he said. Hactl should make 11 per cent growth this year, the average for the past two decades, he said. Hactl achieved a daily handling record of 6,737 tonnes and 9,837 consignments on September 17 and a monthly handling record of 162,186 tonnes in October. AVIATION