FedEx Corp yesterday said that it is to shut its crew base in Hong Kong, the world’s busiest international cargo hub, and relocate its pilots as the territory considers stricter measures on flight crew amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
While the crew base is to close, FedEx is to continue to operate in Hong Kong, because it is a vital part of its Asia-Pacific and global network, the US company said in an e-mailed statement.
The company said that it is providing support for the relocation process of crew members, without providing further details.
Photo: Bloomberg
FedEx’s move comes after Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) on Tuesday said that authorities would consider tougher rules after three Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd (國泰航空) cargo pilots were confirmed to have COVID-19 after returning from Frankfurt, Germany.
The territory is prioritizing a “COVID-19 zero” policy in a bid to reopen its border with mainland China.
The freight and parcel delivery giant is to continue to serve Hong Kong with pilots based in Oakland, California, the South China Morning Post reported, citing a memo by Robin Sebasco, Fedex’s system chief pilot.
The company at the start of the year relocated 180 pilots and their families from Hong Kong to California in response to aircrew quarantine measures, the newspaper said.
Cathay, the world’s third-biggest airfreight commercial airline, on Monday said that all crew who have flown in from Frankfurt this month are undergoing a 21-day quarantine at a government facility.
Crew members at Cathay are also required to get a third COVID-19 vaccine shot as soon as possible.
The carrier has also reached out to pilots of its Boeing Co 747 aircraft for more volunteers to participate in its so-called closed-loop plan — which requires them to fly non-stop for three weeks before entering a two-week quarantine upon their return — to ensure that services are not disrupted.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day