Growth of shipments at FedEx’s home hub in Memphis, Tennessee, topped Hong Kong’s for the first time since the U.S. facility lost the title of world’s busiest cargo airport in 2010. Volume rose 2.5% in Memphis, outpacing Hong Kong’s 2.3%, Bloomberg data show. That helped shrink Hong Kong’s lead in tonnage to 0.2% from 5.3% in 2010. Kevin Sterling, Analyst at BB&T, said: “Memphis has kind of held steady versus Hong Kong, which has been on more of a roller-coaster ride.” The International Air Transport Association (IATA) forecast that air cargo demand worldwide would increase 1.4% this year, resuming growth after declines of 1.5% last year and 0.6% in 2011. The U.S. will be the top cargo market in 2016, with 7.7 million tons of international freight that year, against 3.49 million for mainland China and 3.23 million for Hong Kong, it predicted. Hong Kong faced more challenges, grappling with slower mainland Chinese expansion, declining shipments to Europe and fiercer competition from other airports, Wells Fargo Senior Economist Mark Vitner said. Lower European volumes would probably remain a challenge in the next four years, the IATA predicted. Shipments between the Asia-Pacific region and Europe would drop to 17% of global freight traffic by 2016 from about 18% in 2011. At the same time, Hong Kong’s regional competitors are vying for larger market share. Terminals in China, such as Shenzhen Baoan International Airport and Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, where FedEx opened a hub in 2009, were getting more traffic because of infrastructure improvements, said Chris McNally, Political Economist at the East-West Center.