Slowing Chinese exports and continued surging fuel prices have started taking their toll at the world’s busiest cargo airport, with cargo volume grow that Hong Kong’s airport slowing sharply in June, according to the Airport Authority of Hong Kong.
The airport operator said cargo volume in June rose 2.4 per cent to 312,000 tonnes, from 305,000 tonnes a year earlier, but that is down from May’s 6.7 percent growth and is the lowest expansion in cargo volume in the past year.
“The slower growth in air cargo was largely in line with the reduction in foreign trade between China and its trading partners in the month,” the authority said in a statement. “Higher cost of airfreight will also drive less time-sensitive shipments to sea freight.”
For the first six months of this year, the airport handled 1.8 million tonnes of cargo, or 6.8 per cent more than it did in the same period last year.