DHL has come out in support of plans to spend about €12 billion on a third runway at Hong KongInternational Airport, now the world’s busiest cargo hub, to avoid a ‘capacity crunch’ after
2020.Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) overtook Memphis last year to become the world’s busiestcargo hub as a result of surging exports from China and the Pearl River Delta with cargovolumes up 23.1% year-on-year to 4.17 million tonnes. IATA expects Hong Kong air freight to grow to5.3 million tonnes by 2014.
However, the HK airport authority has said the HKIA’s two runways will run out of capacity by2020. In response, it has proposed building a third runway and associated terminal facilities onreclaimed land for about HK$136 billion (€12 billion). The airport would be able to handle amaximum of 620,000 flights per year, and meet forecast annual passenger and cargo throughput ofabout 97 million and 8.9 million tonnes by 2030 respectively.
The alternative option would be to enhance the existing two-runway system for some HK$42.5billion (€3.8 billion) to enable it to handle a maximum of 420,000 flight movements per year, withannual passenger and cargo throughput increased to 74 million and six million tonnes respectively.This would essentially be a “no-growth” option after 2020.
The authority’s chairman Dr Marvin Cheung Kin-tung explained: “With Asia Pacific, and inparticular the mainland, increasingly driving global and regional economic growth, air trafficdemand has been experiencing strong growth in the past decade. This trend is expected to continue,and Hong Kong is well positioned to capture the opportunities it presents. The current two-runwaysystem is forecast to be saturated by around 2020, and beyond that, HKIA will not be able to meetadditional demand. This could irrevocably harm Hong Kong’s position as a global aviation hub.”
DHL said it believes the proposal to expand Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) to includethree runways is crucial to meeting the territory’s future need for cargo capacity and to stayeconomically competitive.
Jerry Hsu, CEO, Asia Pacific, DHL Express, said: “The ‘global shift’ that has taken Hong Kongto the top will continue powered by growth in China. For DHL Express, this region is its fastestgrowing and we saw throughput growth of more than five times over the last 10 years since weinvested in the DHL Central Asia Hub at HKIA in 2000. As an industry leader, DHL facilitates tradeand continuous government investments in infrastructure and innovation are as integral to thisas our own investments. For Hong Kong to continue to outperform the regional economy, it mustmaintain its excellence in infrastructure as superior capacity, and connections and service qualityare key to continued economic growth.”
Hsu added: “The ideal location for an express hub is determined by the location’s geo-commercialvalue, its airport infrastructure and its operating environment. We’ve based our Central Asia Hub –one of our three global hubs in the world – in Hong Kong for its central location with regards tothe economies of the Pearl River Delta. We’re further investing to leverage trade synergies in HongKong and the Greater China region where we’re awaiting the completion of our USD 175million (€120million) North Asia Hub, set to open in 2012 at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport.”
In 2010, DHL Global Forwarding saw total air freight volumes almost return to pre-recessionhighs with exports continuing to make up the lion’s share. Kelvin Leung, CEO, North Asia Pacific,DHL Global Forwarding, said: “While Hong Kong currently outperforms its population size on theworld stage because of its connectivity, this could change if infrastructure fails to keep pacewith growth. For example, if HKIA is unable to open new destinations, expand flight frequencies ormaintain schedules during bad weather or emergencies because it does not have enough runways, HongKong will suffer economically as logistics providers and companies will have to reroute or rethinktheir supply chains.”
