MONDAY, AUGUST 8, 1983
VIGOROUS GROWTH FOR AIR FREIGHT INDUSTRY
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WITH ITS EXTERNAL TRADE ON THE REBOUND, HONG KONG IS EXPERIENCING A BRISK UPSURGE IN ITS AIR FREIGHT INDUSTRY.
STATISTICS FOR THE FIRST SIX MONTHS OF THIS YEAR SHOW AN ENCOURAGING GROWTH PATTERN. IN ALL, 164 420 TONNES OF AIR FREIGHT PASSED THROUGH THE HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. UP MORE THAN 16 PER CENT OVER THE SAME PERIOD OF LAST YEAR.
+THE AIR CARGO MOVEMENT IS A GOOD BAROMETER OF HONG KONG'S EXPORT PERFORMANCE, PARTICULARLY IN HIGH-VALUE, TIME-SENSITIVE. GOODS, A GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN SAID.
THE MONTHLY VOLUME OF OUTGOING AIR CARGOES GREW VIGOROUSLY OVER THE CORRESPONDING MONTH OF 1982, SOARING FROM AN 11 PER CENT INCREASE IN JANUARY TO 39 PER CENT IN JUNE.
EXPORTS, IMPORTS AND TRANSHIPMENT GOODS COMBINE TO MAKE THE HONG KONG TERMINAL THE WORLD'S SECOND LARGEST IN THROUGHPUT, JUST BEHIND THE LUFTHANSA TERMINAL IN FRANKFURT.
AT PRESENT, HONG KONG RANKS 17TH AMONG THE EXPORTING NATIONS OF THE WORLD, INCLUDING THE OIL-EXPORTING COUNTRIES, AND ITS HUGE KWAI CHÚNG SEA CONTAINER PORT RANKS THIRD AFTER NEW YORK AND ROTTERDAM.
THE UNITED STATES IS HONG KONG'S LARGEST MARKET FOR EXPORTS AND RE-EXPORTS BY AIR, WHILE JAPAN IS THE MAJOR SOURCE OF AIR-FRE IGHTED IMPORTS. THE LARGEST CUSTOMER IN TRANSHIPMENT
IS CHINA.
LAST YEAR, 306 000 TONNES OF GOODS, VALUED AT HK$61 BILLION, WERE CONSIGNED THROUGH THE TERMINAL.
YET. THE DEVELOPMENT OF HONG KONG'S AIR CARGO TRAFFIC HAS BEEN RELATIVELY RECENT.
ITS REAL GROWTH STARTED IN THE LATE 1960'S WHEN U.S. PLANES WERE FLYING SUPPLIES TO INDO-CHINA.
ON THEIR WAY BACK, THEY WERE CHARTERED BY HONG KONG MERCHANTS TO CARRY GOODS TO THE U.S. AT A CHEAP RATE.
+WHEN THE WAR ENDED, COMMERCIAL AIRLINES MAINTAINED THE FLOW OF FREIGHT BY INTRODUCING THE 'CONTAINER RATE AND THE 'PALLET RATE WHICH, THOUGH HIGHER THAN THE FORMER RATES, WERE ECONOMICAL AND GENERATED A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF CARGO,+THE SPOKESMAN POINTED OUT.
/TODAY,