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He
said that the middle class in China has
grown, and so have factory production costs,
and "sourcing companies are looking
at a 'China Plus" [strategy] ...say
40 per cent from China - perhaps a Japanese
automaker in Laos or ladies underwear for
Marks & Spencer from Cambodia ...companies
like VF, the largest apparel group, have
a 1,000-people in Hong Kong doing global
sourcing."
But
the key is that it "all comes together
in Hong Kong" not only because it is
a high-end consuming region, but also a
key logistics hub. It's worth remembering
that half the world's population lives within
five-hours flying time of Hong Kong.
On
the other side of the equation, Hong Kong
is one of the best shopping centres of the
world. On holidays, China's new middle class,
like geese flying south, flock to Hong Kong
with suitcase on tow, and proceed to clean
out an entire display cabinet of Estee Lauder,
Christian Dior, Chanel or other name brands.
The
purchasing power of Hong Kong is never more
on display than with luxury cars. The region
has one of the highest luxury car ownership
per road mile in the world. Recently, Audi
launched its new 2014 A-3 model and brought
to Hong Kong 350 units... and sold them
all.
The
air market in Asia especially is growing
fast. China's civil aviation authorities
forecast that passenger traffic will grow
11.4 per cent annually to 2020, and by 2025
China will be the largest air freight market
in the world. IATA Consulting estimates
that with current growth projections, Hong
Kong will exceed 100 million passengers,
over 600,000 flights and nearly nine million
tonnes of freight by 2030.
Unfortunately,
the two-runway system's maximum capacity
is only 420,000 movements annually. The
obvious answer is a third runway, which
should be able to handle 620,000 flights
a year. But building the runway is going
to be challenging with the numerous regional
airports (in China and Macau), complex flight
patterns and potential air draft issues
for ultra large containerships moving to
Shenzhen.
In
regard to air freight, HKIA (Hong Kong International
Airport) is the logistics linchpin in the
Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HZMB) transportation
chain. The HZMB will run right past the
airport, opening up the possibility of moving
cargo direct from western Guangdong to virtually
any destination in the world. But HKIA is
already close to maximum capacity, and a
third runway could make a big difference
in connectivity. The HKZM will connect via
the Hong Kong Link Road to the new Hong
Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities with 28
stands for border clearance.
HKIA
is one of the world's most active airports
and a critical supply chain link. In 2012
the airport handled 56.5 million passengers
and 4.03 million tonnes of freight (the
world's busiest). The Chek Lap Kok airport
is on Lantau Island, 30 kilometres from
Hong Kong and operates two runways round
the clock, with the inner runway generally
serving freight. Currently the airport has
over 350,000 movements annually with 64
flights running at peak hours.
The
airport's onsite air cargo facilities include
HACTL's Super Terminal 1 (Hong Kong Air
Terminal Ltd.), AATL (Asia Airfreight Terminal
Ltd), a new Cathay Pacific facility (CPSL)
and DHL.
The
new $760.8 million Cathay cargo facility
will have an annual capacity of 2.6 million
tonnes. Cathay cargo chief Mark Sutch told
the AJOT that although Cathay Pacific was
a shareholder in Hong Kong's No 1 groundhandler
HACTL, they decided to build its own facility.
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