Hactl quarterly volume up 2pc to 649,722 tonnes, March rises 4.4pc

HONG KONG Air Cargo Terminals Limited (Hactl) has announced it handled 649,722 tonnes in first quarter, up two per cent year on year, while the throughput for March was 254,819 tonnes, up 4.4 per cent year on year.


Export volume grew 4.3 per cent year on year in March to 137,037 tonnes, but first quarter exports fell one per cent year on year to 335,009 tonnes.


In March, export to Japan saw a decline of 18.3 per cent. But from January to March, export to China showed a year-on-year growth of 7.9 per cent, while export to Europe a year-on-year decline of six per cent.


For import cargo, the total tonnage grew 0.8 per cent to 64,227 tonnes in March. Also, cumulative import tonnage for the first quarter was 175,588 tonnes, up 0.6 per cent year on year.


Imports from Japan in March slumped 22.6 per cent year on year. Yet in the first quarter, imports from the US increased 13 per cent and from Europe 16 per cent.


In transshipments, March volume grew 9.3 per cent year on year to 53,555 tonnes. Total transshipment volume for the first quarter reached 139,035 tonnes, up 12.4 per cent year on year.


"The quake and the subsequent tsunami crisis in Japan are bringing supply chain disruptions which would likely affect the aviation industry amid its recovery. While we observed a significant decline in export and import volumes to and from Japan in March, we will maintain a close watch on the situation and its potential impact on our tonnage volumes over the coming months," said Hactl's executive director Lilian Chan.
(Source:http://www.schednet.com)