Zhenghou planning international air logistics center
Mar-27-2014 By : agxadmin
Zhengzhou in Henan province has mapped out an ambitious plan to become an international air logistics center using its airport economic area. The State Council approved construction of the Zhengzhou Comprehensive Experimental Zone for Airport-based Economy in March last year. Zhengzhou airport has 23 cargo flight routes, 90% of all routes in Central China. It is the only airport that is qualified to operate international express services in the region. Packages departing from Zhengzhou can reach 13 international cities including New York, Moscow and London the next day. Cargo flight routes to Europe have been developing very fast. Cargo from the Pearl River and Yangtze River deltas, the area around the Bohai Sea and Northeast China are now delivered to major cities in Europe each day. So far, there have been 48 major projects with a total investment of CNY151.6 billion in the experimental zone. “We will go all out to build a transportation hub with the airport at the center. Our goal is to establish a cargo flight network that covers all the major port cities in the world within a short time,” said Zhang Yanming, Director of the Administrative Committee of the Experimental Zone. Construction of the second phase of the airport is proceeding smoothly. Terminal 2 and its supporting facilities are high on this year’s agenda. The terminal is expected to be put into use by 2017 and six more international cargo flight routes are in the pipeline this year. Meanwhile, a comprehensive transportation network connecting the airport with railways and highways has taken shape. Zhang said the Committee has invited five foreign and one domestic company to help draw up the master plan for the zone, which covers 415 square kilometers. The zone has set its GDP growth target at more than 30% this year, while its gross industrial output value is expected to reach CNY200 billion. Its fixed-asset investment (FAI) is expected to be doubled from the previous year.
Overcapacity puts the brakes on Asian air cargo growth
Feb-27-2014 By : agxadmin
Top Asian airlines’ profit margins are being eroded by a struggling air cargo business, even as they capitalize on increasing passenger demand, industry executives said. Weak global economic growth and freight capacity oversupply brought on by new deep-bellied planes is hurting carriers with dedicated cargo businesses, the insiders said ahead of the six-day Singapore Airshow this month. “The biggest worry of the airline industry right now is probably cargo,” Tony Tyler, Director General of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said. “For the big airlines in this region, it is a very important component of their revenue mix.” IATA said air freight traffic rose 1.4% last year from the previous year, supported by rising activity from Middle Eastern and Latin American carriers. At Asia-Pacific carriers, which have nearly 40% of the global freight market, volumes dropped 1%, while capacity rose 0.8%. Andrew Herdman, Director General of the Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines, said major regional airlines with separate cargo businesses are bearing the brunt of the slump in the industry since the 2008 global financial crisis. “The people who are really suffering in the cargo business are the ones operating big fleets of dedicated freighters, and that includes Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Korean Air, among others,” Herdman said. Singapore Airlines’ freight arm operates nine Boeing B747-400 freighters. Cathay Pacific has a fleet of 25 freighters, while Korean Air has 26, according to the carriers’ websites.
Cathay continues to idle part of its freight fleet
By : agxadmin
Cathay Pacific Airways plans to keep part of its freighter fleet in the hangar this year amid a protracted slump in the cargo market. The airline’s cargo tonnage fell 1.4% year-on-year last month, following a 5% drop in December. Cathay, the second-largest air-cargo operator behind Emirates SkyCargo, saw growth in shipments in only two of the past 12 months. “Freight rates are under pressure because of overcapacity in the market,” James Woodrow, Cathay’s Cargo Director, said. The freight business of Hong Kong’s biggest airline has been hit by overcapacity in the market, compounded by weak demand in the United States and Europe since last year. Recovery in demand this year would hinge on the strength of the U.S. economy, Woodrow said. Cathay took five of its 26 freighters out of service last year. It also agreed to sell six Boeing 747-400 freighters to Boeing, with the aircraft leaving the fleet between now and 2016. Aside from overcapacity in the industry, the scattering of production lines in China for Apple’s iPhones and iPads has added to Cathay’s woes. “In the past, we could wait here for the products to be trucked down from the production lines in the Pearl River Delta; now we have to fly to new production centers in Chongqing and Zhengzhou,” Woodrow said. Chief Executive John Slosar said about 50% of the carrier’s cargo tonnage was transshipments from the mainland. The airline’s share of the market in carrying technology products is under pressure as the competition in inland cities is much fiercer than that in its home base. Hong Kong airport handled 2.4% more cargo at 4.12 million tons last year while the volume carried by Cathay dropped 1.5%. To improve efficiency in handling transshipments, the carrier built its own cargo terminal in Hong Kong last year. The HKD5.9 billion facility has been in full operation since October. With 1,800 workers, it has handled 600,000 tons of cargo over the past year.
Cathay Pacific opens new cargo terminal
Jan-30-2014 By : agxadmin
Cathay Pacific Airways has officially launched a new cargo terminal at Hong Kong airport which will help the city, facing fierce rivalry from Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport, enhance its position as the leading airfreight hub. Cathay Pacific Services, a wholly-owned cargo subsidiary of Hong Kong’s flag carrier, opened the HKD5.9 billion terminal that can handle 2.6 million tons of cargo annually, Algernon Yau, CEO of the unit, told Shanghai Daily. The Cathy Pacific Cargo Terminal will increase Hong Kong International Airport’s overall annual cargo capacity by 50% to 7.4 million tons, Yau said. He added that Hong Kong faced intense competition from airports on the Chinese mainland. Shanghai, which has established a pilot free trade zone, intends to elevate Pudong Airport into the world’s busiest cargo hub in five years. Guangzhou is building an Airport Economic Zone, while Shenzhen airport will complete its third runway soon.
Shanghai FTZ offers potential to reduce shipping times
By : agxadmin
Transferring cargo in the Shanghai free trade zone (FTZ) could reduce shipping times significantly. DHL was selected as the first in the sector to test the waters of the international transshipment business in the pilot area. The company has launched its first international transit air route that offers transfers in Shanghai. It is also the first of its kind to operate in China. The new route could save eight hours out of the three-day journey from Leipzig to Tokyo compared with the old route via Hong Kong, according to Qian Xiaorong, Project Manager at the DHL North Asia logistic center at Pudong International Airport, which handles the operation of the new route. In the center, cargo from international transshipments is unpacked, sorted and repackaged according to destinations, without having to receive customs checks or pay duties. As a key index to measure the internationalization level of an airport, international transshipments usually account for more than 50% of the total cargo volume at hub airports. As the largest cargo airport in China and the third-largest worldwide, Pudong airport handles 3 million tons of cargo a year. Before international transshipment was introduced in the free trade zone, such cargo could only go to Japan or Singapore. “Shanghai has the potential to become an international hub for cargo transport because it is better positioned than Hong Kong and Singapore, in terms of being a shorter distance to Europe and the United States,” said Qian. Such an advantage becomes more apparent using the polar route over the Arctic, which could save up to four hours of flight time compared with traditional routes, she said. With only one route, the center seems to be underutilized with its 88,000 sq m area and a capacity to handle 40,000 parcels and envelopes per hour. DHL plans to launch more international transshipment air routes next year, the China Daily reports. In the first 10 months of this year, the volume of transshipment cargo at Pudong airport has surged by 125% compared with the same period last year. Pudong airport also plans to upgrade and expand its air cargo facilities. The air cargo volume at Pudong airport is expected to reach 5 million to 7 million tons a year in 2015.
- KURT VANDEPUTTE (UMICORE) APPOINTED CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF THE FLANDERS-CHINA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE (FCCC)
- Webinar: “Knowing Your Chinese Partner” – May 26, 2021, 10 am – 12 am
- EMA starts rolling review of CoronaVac, WHO approves Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use
- The Global Times warns not to politicize the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI)
- Hainan to become biggest duty-free market in the world