HONG KONG Air Cargo Terminals Ltd (Hactl) holds the tonnage crown against it erstwhile partner, but not rival Cathay Pacific Airways, after the Hong Kong flag carrier moved into its own cargo handling terminal.

The two companies reported tonnage results after their first year of solo in ground handling with Hactl leading with 1.81 million tonnes against Cathay Pacific's 1.45 million tonnes.

Cathay Pacific Services Limited (CPSL) in the release of its first full year tonnage figures from its new Cathay Pacific Cargo Terminal (CPCT) handled 1.45 million tonnes of cargo with its highest daily throughput occurring on November 8 when it handled 5,476 tonnes.

Its one-time partner, Hactl) reported having moved 1.81 million tonnes in 2014, up 8.7 per cent year on year. Hactl exports were up 6.7 per cent to 1,035,899 tonnes, imports were up 10.3 per cent to 498,338 tonnes, transshipments were up 28.6 per cent at 130,834 tonnes.

Cathay's traffic at CPCT was largely driven by transshipment in 2014, accounting for 54 per cent of throughput. Imports accounted for 15 per cent and while exports came in at 31 per cent.

Said CPSL chief executive Kelvin Ko: "2014 was Cathay Pacific Cargo Terminal's first full-year of operations. With concerted efforts by our dedicated team, we were able to achieve the highest level of service performance that we promised our customers from the beginning."

CPSL demonstrated its commitment to providing differentiated services in all aspects. At CPCT, consignees can collect inbound cargo after its arrival within three hours for passenger flights and five hours for freighters, said a company statement.

"In addition, airlines can now enjoy faster connections for transshipment handling at CPCT, with our pledge to connect the shipments within five hours, or three hours with prior arrangement. CPSL has also started providing ramp handling service for freighters since July 2014." said the statement.

CPSL currently serves seven customer airlines, namely AirAsia, Air Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific Airways, Dragonair, EVA Airways

Corporation, Royal Brunei Airlines and Thai AirAsia. It has a workforce of over 1,800 people to support the round-the-clock operations at the Cathay Pacific Cargo Terminal.

Hactl ended 2014 with its strongest quarter of the year, handling 491,476 tonnes, up 4.9 per cent year on year. The fourth quarter was the best for exports, which totalled 287,456 tonnes , up 4.2 per cent on 2013, for imports, which totalled 131,202 tonnes (up 7.7 per cent) and for mail and express, which totalled 41,558 tonnes (down 2.2 per cent). Transshipments totalled 31,261 tonnes (up 11.1 per cent, but only the third highest quarter of 2014).

Said Hactl CEO Mark Whitehead: "This is a very pleasing result, with good increases in all areas of our business. Transshipments once again showed exceptional growth, fuelled both by increased road feeder activity by our subsidiary Hacis, and the continuing underlying development of Hong Kong as Asia's preferred regional hub."

Source: Shipping Gazette