Air shipments from China and other parts of Asia to Europe and the USA are facing serious delaysdue to a capacity shortage at major airports. Ad-hoc air rates for the limited available space are
soaring as a result.A substantial backlog of exports has been building up in recent weeks at Hong Kong andShanghai international airports, and appears to be spreading to other major airports such asBangkok, Singapore, Seoul and Taipei, according to recent reports from the region. The backlog iswidely expected to continue through until Chinese New Year.
The South China Morning Post reported last week that European and US retailers arere-stocking heavily on consumer electronics such as laptop computers and smartphones made in Chinaor elsewhere in Asia due to strong demand in the run-up to Christmas. But air capacity has not beensufficient to cope with the surge in demand and as a result air cargo rates have soared and a largebacklog of freight waiting to be flown has built up. “Some analysts estimate there is up to 10,000tonnes of air cargo being stored at warehouses, equal to one to two days of export capacity, whileothers put the figure at between 2,000 and 5,000 tonnes,” it wrote.
UPS, for example, is benefiting from this soaring demand, the newspaper said. The integratorhas increased weekly flights from Hong Kong to the USA to 21 from 12-15 earlier this year whileflights to Europe have risen to nine a week from six. “Our export volume from Hong Kong hasreturned to the level of 2007, if not exceeded it,” Leung Kwok-kei, UPS general manager for HongKong and Macau, was cited as saying.
Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Ltd (Hactl), which accounts for about 80% of volumes at theairport, announced an 18.8% rise in tonnage in November compared to one year ago. Exports,accounting for about 60% of tonnage, were up by 18%.
The boom in Asian outbound air shipments is also partly reflected in broader figures frommajor airports for October. Airports in Asia Pacific recorded an overall 5.1% rise in freighttraffic in October, with domestic volumes up 12% and international traffic up by 2.9%, airportsassociation ACI said earlier this month. IATA reported a 1.9% rise in international traffic forAsia Pacific airlines thanks to “stronger economic revival in the region, with industrialproduction now rising strongly in a number of economies”.
