The rapid growth in cargo traffic at airports in Asia and the Middle East may be slowing down, but the expansion remains the dominant feature on a world cargo trading map that is tilting decidedly toward the regions. The shifting global landscape comes as the cargo map in the United States is showing the impact of big changes in both the international arena and domestic shipping, leaving many second-tier airports facing declining freight numbers in the wake of an economic slowdown and capacity cutbacks by belly carriers. The latest Air Cargo World list of the world's largest cargo airports, compiled from numbers from Airports Council International and the airports, shows Memphis International, home to FedEx, still at No. 1 in the world. But Hong Kong International remains No. 1 for international air transport, and Hong Kong is edging closer to Memphis. Hong Kong's growth outpaced Memphis again last year and it was even ahead of the FedEx hub again in the first few months of 2008, putting Hong Kong in reach of surpassing the world's longtime top cargo airport. Hong Kong's expansion comes even as government and carrier attention increasingly flows toward Hong Kong's closest competitors, the airports of Mainland China. In Southern China, a short drive from Hong Kong, Baiyun Guangzho grew 6.4% last year and nearby Shenzhen was up 10.1%, but both will see still greater growth soon enough. FedEx's hub at Guangzho has been under construction and UPS announced this spring that it will move its intra-Asia hub to Shenzhen.
At No. 5 overall, Shanghai Pudong remains the top growth market by cargo volume, with a 15.5% growth, reflecting the continued potential from the world's most populated country. Seoul Incheon remained No. 4, despite a slowdown from its primary carrier, Korean Air, as well as the threat posed by Chinese airports as alternative gateways for Northeast Asia. China figures strategically in Incheon's fortunes. Last year, transshipment traffic for the first time surpassed origin/destination cargo, and China accounted for a large portion of that cargo. Anchorage International, a transit stop for East-West traffic and a maintenance center for Northwest Airlines, remains at the No. 3 spot and all signs point to further growth in cargo volume at this Alaska gateway. Frankfurt came in at No. 7, despite only posting a 1.9% growth in tonnage last year. Lufthansa and DHL Express are moving cargo to Leipzig and elsewhere and Frankfurt must contend with onerous nighttime flight restrictions that allow for only 17 flights between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. The bright spot for airport expansion remains the Middle East and India. At No. 13, Dubai, which has become a viable gateway for cargo to Europe and Asia and transit point for cargo from Africa, grew 11% in cargo volume last year. Although not yet in the Top 50, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah continue to inch up the list with 22.7% and 16.2% traffic growth in 2007, a sign that Dubai is not the only cargo center of note in the Middle East. Freight tonnage for Mumbai and New Delhi continue to increase with 12.1% and 8.7% increases in 2007, despite an infrastructure that significantly limits long-term growth. Source: Full article available at Air Cargo World.com
Construction Begins On Lufthansa’s New Freight Center in Frankfurt -
July 2008
Lufthansa Cargo has laid the foundation stone for its new freight centre in Cargo City South at Frankfurt Airport. The new Lufthansa Cargo Service Centre, with a warehouse capacity of about 20,000 m2 and more than 8,000 m2 of office space, will supplement the Lufthansa Cargo Centre in Cargo City North. The new handling facility will principally handle mail shipments from medium-sized forwarders and partner airlines. It will also accommodate the Lufthansa Cargo's German and the European sales organisations, which were previously housed in Kelsterbach.
The new facility is scheduled to commence operations in autumn 2009.
Lufthansa Cargo chairman Carsten Spohr said that once the legal go-ahead for a final ruling on practicable night-flight arrangements is obtained, the carrier will press ahead firmly with plans for building a new Lufthansa Cargo Centre in the north of the Airport. "With its new Service Centre, Lufthansa Cargo is strengthening not only Cargo City South, but also Frankfurt Airport generally and the entire Rhine-Main logistics region," commented Dr. Wilhelm Bender, chairman of the Fraport operating company. The Lufthansa Cargo Centre in Cargo City North, which was opened in 1982 and accommodates 70,000 m2 of warehouse space, ranks among the world's biggest airfreight centres. Lufthansa Cargo trans-shipped about 1.5 million tonnes of cargo at its Frankfurt home base last year. Source: Eye For Transport
CN Welcomes Added Vessel Call at Port of Prince Rupert Container Terminal - July 2008
CN welcomed the arrival yesterday of a second weekly steamship alliance vessel at the Port of Prince Rupert.
The COSCO/K-Line/Yang Ming/Hanjin (CKYH) alliance will now ship Hong Kong, South China, East China and North China cargoes, as well as those from Yokohama, to North America via Prince Rupert. COSCO was the first steamship company to serve the new terminal and launched an initial weekly call at the port from China and Yokohama in October 2007. James M. Foote, CN's executive vice-president, Sales and Marketing, said: "The CKYH alliance second weekly vessel is testament to the logistics value of the CN-Port of Prince Rupert-Maher Terminals service offering to the international shipping community. Together, we have created a new, highly competitive gateway for goods entering North America and transiting CN's network to the U.S. Midwest and Central Canada.
"CN is consistently delivering fifth morning availability of containers in Chicago and sixth morning availability in Memphis, a leading U.S. distribution hub. With the growth in imports over Rupert, we continue to identify new opportunities for backhaul container movements to Asia from the continental interior, including the U.S. Midwest and Western Canada." The new container traffic from the second-vessel call at Prince Rupert is consistent with CN's expectations for the port's operations and is included in the Operating Plan for implementing its proposed acquisition of the principal lines of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway Co. CN - Canadian National Railway Company - spans Canada and mid-America, from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to the Gulf of Mexico, serving the ports of Vancouver, Prince Rupert, B.C., Montreal, Halifax, New Orleans, and Mobile, Ala., and the key cities of Toronto, Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, Duluth, Minn./Superior, Wis., Green Bay, Wis., Minneapolis/St. Paul, Memphis, St. Louis, and Jackson, Miss., with connections to all points in North America. SOURCE: CN
Diesel Hits Record; Gas Ticks Higher- July 2008
The price of diesel fuel hit a record high and gasoline resumed its march upward, a daily survey from auto club AAA showed Sunday. The price of diesel, which is used to power most trucks and commercial vehicles, hit $4.817 a gallon. It had dipped to $4.811 on Friday and Saturday after reaching a record $4.814 last week.
The average price of unleaded gasoline increased to $4.104 a gallon from $4.098 on Saturday.The nationwide average is down from the all-time high of $4.108 a gallon, set July 7. Prices for regular unleaded gas are 35% higher than where they were last year, and diesel prices have risen by more than 65% over the same period. State levels. Alaska continues to lead the country in the gas runup with prices at $4.617 a gallon on average. California, the other state with prices above $4.50 a gallon, comes in second at $4.518. Hawaii is just pennies away from the mark at $4.463.
South Carolina has the cheapest average prices for regular unleaded at $3.894 per gallon, while Oklahoma has the cheapest diesel at $4.607. Meanwhile, a separate survey released on Sunday found that the average price of gasoline jumped more than penny over the past three weeks - the smallest price hike this year. That survey showed that the average price was a fraction of a cent above $4.11 a gallon, said survey publisher Trilby Lundberg. That was up 1.5 cents a gallon from the last survey three weeks ago, Lundberg said.
"This is the most stable we have seen prices all year," she said. But it's not likely to stay this way, she added. The main reason for the slowdown in rising gas prices was that oil refiners and gas retailers did not pass on increases in crude oil prices to consumers. They also did not raise their prices because they had seen a recent decline in demand for gas, Lundberg said. A government report released Wednesday showed an unexpected climb in national gasoline stockpiles, which analysts said could indicate that drivers just aren't buying as much fuel.
The price of crude oil, which is used to make gasoline and other refined fuels, has been trading at record levels. The increase in prices has put a squeeze on refiners over the past month as products like gasoline have become more expensive to produce. But refiners and retailers cannot continue to refrain from passing on the higher costs to consumers, Lundberg explained. If the price of crude oil continues to go up, gas prices will have to follow. The Lundberg survey tallies prices from about 5,000 gas stations nationwide every two weeks. AAA gets its information from Oil Price Information Service, which tracks prices at about 85,000 stations daily. Source: CNN
