Hactl’s November results reveal healthy market, even as growth rates slow down

Despite slowing year-over-year growth rates in monthly annual comparisons, demand for airfreight still appears to be extremely strong – at least it is at the world’s largest cargo hub. Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Limited (Hactl) reported that it had broken three records during the first week of November, indicating the industry’s position in the middle of a great peak season.

For the first time ever, on Nov. 5, Hactl handled 102 freighters in a single day, a figure that most of the world’s airports do not even see in an entire month. Hactl’s previous record of 101 freighters was set on Nov. 23, 2016, suggesting that, if history repeats itself, mid-to-late November could be even stronger this year.

With the number of freighters moving through Hong Kong during the first week of November, it’s no wonder, then, that Hactl bested its weekly handling records for both export and its overall total for the week, with 31,280 tonnes and 42,471 tonnes of cargo handled, respectively.

Commenting on the record-high performance, Hactl CEO Mark Whitehead (at left) said, “2016 was a year of records for Hactl, largely fueled by the boom in Q4, resulting from the collapse of Hanjin. We have had no such extraordinary event to boost volumes in 2017, yet our 100 client carriers are all performing strongly and helping us to set new records. Our work on developing e-commerce export traffic via Hong Kong is clearly playing a part in the overall picture, and we are delighted to be able to contribute to our airline customers’ continuing success.”

Despite robust demand for air cargo, the rate of demand growth is slowing. Looking back at 2016, airfreight demand growth was negative at the beginning of the year, turning positive in April, with low-single-digit, year-over-year, gains through August. But in September 2016, growth began to accelerate, up 6.1 percent, y-o-y, in that month, and then 8.2 percent in October, 6.8 percent in November and 9.8 percent in December. With these tougher comparisons, the gains in current and future months will inevitably be lower.