Cargo volume at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport from January to October rose 23.3 percent annually to reach 2.32 million tonnes thanks to booming exports of electronic products and increased consumption in the holiday season, Taiwan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday.
The airport ranked No. 2 in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of cargo growth over the period, TIAC Property Development Department director Tom Chen (陳慶隆) said.
The facility is expected to process a total of 2.8 million tonnes of cargo this year, which would be an increase of 20 percent compared with last year.
Photo: CNA
The airport’s cargo volume has registered double-digit percentage growth since July last year, Chen said.
However, growth has plateaued since October, with the airport processing about 240,000 tonnes of cargo per month, he added.
“Christmas and Lunar New Year holidays are traditionally peak shopping times. Moreover, surging exports of electronic products also boosted the amount of air cargo handled at the airport. We expect that imports and exports of air cargo will continue to grow until the first quarter of next year,” Chen said.
Some businesses have begun to transport heavier or bulkier goods, such as bathtubs, spinning bikes and tiles, via air freight, he said.
“Many businesses have switched to air transport as the global supply chain has been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Congestion at seaports around the world and a container shortage have also led to high demand for air cargo services,” Chen said.
“Even though transport fees could be higher than prices of the goods delivered, businesses would prefer to fulfill terms of their contracts and deliver goods via air transport, even though this means they would sustain financial losses,” he said.
Prior to the pandemic, air freight fees were about 12 times those of sea freight, he said, adding that it is now about three times higher.
The company would monitor demand for air cargo services and determine whether the airport has the capacity to meet demand.
“To expedite cargo handling at the airport, we will expand the space to load and unload cargo, and coordinate with logistics service operators to optimize the tally operation,” he said.
The Aviation Police Bureau would help guide the logistics vehicles entering and leaving the airport to ensure smooth customs clearance and timely delivery of goods, he added.
The airport has sufficient stands for passenger and cargo planes, he said, adding that it would flexibly arrange the use of aircraft stands if air cargo volumes continue to rise.
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
RSS