HACTL SEES FALL IN AIR CARGO TONNAGE

HACTL SEES FALL IN AIR CARGO TONNAGE    Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals' volumes declined 9 percent in 2001 to 1.59 million tons, due to continued weaknesses in import trades and exports to the United States
   Imports were off 9.0 percent, to 576,421 tons. U.S. imports were down 12.9 percent, while imports from other Asian countries slid 10.3 percent, and European imports declined 4.0 percent.
   Exports were down 10.5 percent to 791,609 tons. Volume reductions in key markets were United States, 18.7 percent; Europe, 7.9 percent; Japan 2.5 percent; Taiwan, 15.5 percent; and Korea, 9.1 percent.
   Transshipment cargo dipped 3.4 percent to 223,281 tons.
   For 2002, 'there are some signs of recovery, particularly in the export sectors,' said Summit Chan, HACTL's director of marketing and customer service. 'We can only be cautiously optimistic about the sustainability of the recovery, in light of the uncertainties in the U.S. and regional markets.'
   HACTL said it is pushing to implement its intermodal transport and information technology initiatives to achieve logistics integration with the Pearl River Delta.