Cargo piles up as 100 flights cancelled
More than 100 flights have been delayed or cancelled at Chek Lap Kok since the United States Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) closed America's airports.
While most travellers avoided being stranded at the airport, concern within the transport community is mounting as quickly as the cargo in their makeshift warehouses.
Partial relief came yesterday when the FAA notified the Civil Aviation Department that the US airspace system was resuming normal operations from 11pm. Potential problems remain, however, as not all US airports would be opening immediately.
'We will need to reach some quick agreements with the shippers because if they keep sending cargo we will run out of storage space pretty quickly,' said Alice Lau, director of the Hong Kong Association of Freight Forwarding Agents.
'But we know that the shippers also have no space, which is one of the reasons they give the cargo to us for consolidation.
'Things will have to be put on hold. People are afraid that production lines [in the Pearl River Delta] will have to be stopped very soon.'
Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals (Hactl), the airport's biggest cargo handler which usually services about 13 flights to North America a day, had been unable to ship at least 1,400 tonnes as scheduled.
The Trade and Development Council received complaints yesterday that Hactl was refusing to take cargo, but the company said this was at the request of airlines which have run out of space and are loathe to absorb the storage costs.
