THE southern China air freight market has changed 'dramatically' as Covid rages in Hong Kong, severely impacting the local trucking market to and from the mainland.
Forwarders estimate there is a 70 per cent cut in truck capacity, further diminishing Hong Kong's air export market, reports UK's The Loadstar.
'Cross-border trucking has been impacted a lot, mainly due to truckers being found positive with Omicron, reducing manpower by 70 per cent in this area,' said one.
'Because of the slow cross-border process, much of the cargo cannot reach Hong Kong in time to catch flights. Virgin Atlantic has announced it will delay the resumption of operations (following Chinese New Year) until the IATA summer schedule starts,' he added.
Another local forwarder explained: 'About 80 per cent of Hong Kong-origin traffic relies heavily on this border activity to keep HKG airport busy. Although the border has not closed yet, the cargo volume to HKG has been reduced significantly due to many truck drivers testing Covid-19 positive and being refused permission to return to mainland China.
'A lot of south China traffic traditionally routed via HKG now flies directly ex-Guangzhou or Shenzhen or other Chinese airports. I believe this situation will go for another one or two months, until the 'confirmed cases' are under control.'
He added however that banking was harder on the mainland, allowing Hong Kong to maintain its built-in advantage.
'The transshipment hub function will not be affected, simply because of HKG's free and cross-trade bank services. You can easily remit millions of dollars in and out without any difficulty and this, so far, cannot be replaced by other cities in China where all inward and outward transfers are heavily audited and regulated.'
However, demand has slumped since Chinese New Year, with rates 'dropping to pre-Covid low season level' at one point, according to one master loader.
SeaNews Turkey
Forwarders estimate there is a 70 per cent cut in truck capacity, further diminishing Hong Kong's air export market, reports UK's The Loadstar.
'Cross-border trucking has been impacted a lot, mainly due to truckers being found positive with Omicron, reducing manpower by 70 per cent in this area,' said one.
'Because of the slow cross-border process, much of the cargo cannot reach Hong Kong in time to catch flights. Virgin Atlantic has announced it will delay the resumption of operations (following Chinese New Year) until the IATA summer schedule starts,' he added.
Another local forwarder explained: 'About 80 per cent of Hong Kong-origin traffic relies heavily on this border activity to keep HKG airport busy. Although the border has not closed yet, the cargo volume to HKG has been reduced significantly due to many truck drivers testing Covid-19 positive and being refused permission to return to mainland China.
'A lot of south China traffic traditionally routed via HKG now flies directly ex-Guangzhou or Shenzhen or other Chinese airports. I believe this situation will go for another one or two months, until the 'confirmed cases' are under control.'
He added however that banking was harder on the mainland, allowing Hong Kong to maintain its built-in advantage.
'The transshipment hub function will not be affected, simply because of HKG's free and cross-trade bank services. You can easily remit millions of dollars in and out without any difficulty and this, so far, cannot be replaced by other cities in China where all inward and outward transfers are heavily audited and regulated.'
However, demand has slumped since Chinese New Year, with rates 'dropping to pre-Covid low season level' at one point, according to one master loader.
SeaNews Turkey