Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) has seen cargo volumes increase in September by 1.1 per cent to 368,000 tonnes, the first year-on-year (YOY) rise since February.
The airport says the surge comes from a three per cent YOY rise in exports, making up for no growth in imports with transhipments falling by three per cent. HKIA says traffic to and from North America and Australasia rose most.
So far this year, cargo volumes have increased by 0.2 per cent to 3.2 million tonnes. Until September, January and February had been the only months of the year to see YOY increases, with January rising by 1.6 per cent to 356,000 tonnes and February was up by 22.6 per cent to 303,000 tonnes.
March was the first month to see a YOY fall, down 8.2 per cent to 364,000 tonnes, which HKIA blamed on a 16 per cent decline in imports. Cargo volumes were down by 0.7 per cent in April to 360,000 tonnes, followed by a 0.3 per cent drop in May to 366,000 tonnes. June saw a fall of 3.5 per cent to 349,000 tonnes.
July was down by 1.9 per cent to 363,000 tonnes, because of weakness in China, Taiwan and Europe, with transhipments falling by five per cent. August saw a drop of 1.2 per cent to 361,000 tonnes.
