Hong Kong Airport’s two major freight handlers, Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Ltd (HACTL) and Asia Airfreight Terminal (AAT), have both reported clear signs of a stabilisation in cargo volumes and are hopeful that the beginning of a recovery is underway.

Noting that air cargo throughput is “generally a good indicator of the economy” HACTL said that while the first half of 2009 had been difficult, “it is delightful to observe the relatively stabilised tonnage performance over the past few months”. Similarly AAT said that clearly the global economic recession continues, however, “the total tonnage has shown some improvements, hopefully it’s a sign that we have already seen the worst.”

HACTL handled a total of 187,955 tonnes of cargo in June, down 14.4 per cent year-on-year. Import volume for June registered an 11 per cent decline year-on-year (y-o-y) basis to 51,137 tonnes, with HACTL stating the market outlook for imports from western countries “continues to be gloomy”. Export volume fell 19.2 per cent to 96,792 tonnes in June, y-o-y.

The smaller AAT handled a total of 38,359 tonnes in June, down 27 per cent y-o-y, while export cargo fell 31 per cent to 24,985 tonnes. Import cargo volume for June was 12,875 tonnes, down 21 per cent, while transshipment cargo volume rose 35 per cen