Hong Kong can attract more air cargobusiness if its transhipment processescan be reviewed quickly, Asia AirfreightTerminal (AAT) general manager, planning& services, Nelson Lee said.

He said as Hong Kong did not havea transhipment ordinance, the customswere using a combination of the existingimport and export ordinances toregulate the territory’s transfer of aircargo making it unattractive to shippersand cargo agents.

"Shippers and cargo agents have topay a declaration charge for handlingair transhipments via Hong Kong, whileother airports do not have such a levy,"Lee said, adding that as such, the territorywas losing out to other airports inThailand, Singapore and Taiwan.

In addition, the processes in HongKong were much more restrictive particularlyin terms of licensing requirementsinvolving air transhipments, headded.

Although Hong Kong had a freeport status, this was not reflected in aircargo transfers, Lee said, pointing outthat many organisations in the territoryhad already raised this issue many timeswith the authorities, but the necessarychanges had yet to be approved andimplemented.

However, Lee said that he is optimisticthat the industry’s lobbyingefforts will pay off, and the transhipmentprocesses will soon be broughtin line with other airports in theregion.

– Wong Joon San