Hong Kong International Airport, Memphis International Airport, Shanghai Pudong International Airport, Incheon International Airport and Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport remained as the top cargo airports in 2018 retaining their positions from the year prior, according to the Airports Council International (ACI).

Some changes were noted, however, down the list of the Top 20 cargo gateways last year. 

"Big movers were Los Angeles International Airport which jumped three places from 13th to 10th this year and Doha International Airport which advanced five places from 16th last year to 11th," ACI said in its latest World Airport Traffic Report.

The Top 20 airports for cargo are:

1. Hong Kong - 5.12 million metric tonnes, up 1.5%

2. Memphis, Tennessee - 4.47 million metric tonnes, up 3.1%

3. Shanghai, China - 3.77 million metric tonnes, down 1.5%

4. Incheon, South Korea - 2.95 million metric tonnes, up 1%

5. Anchorage, Alaska - 2.81 million metric tonnes, up 3.5%

6. Dubai, United Arab Emirates - 2.64 million metric tonnes, down 0.5%

7. Louisville, Kentucky - 2.62 million metric tonnes, up 0.8%

8. Taipei, Taiwan - 2.32 million metric tonnes, up 2.4%

9. Tokyo, Japan - 2.26 million metric tonnes, down 3.2%

10. Los Angeles, California - 2.21 million metric tonnes, up 2.4%

11. Doha, Qatar - 2.198 million metric tonnes, up 8.8%

12. Singapore - 2.195 million metric tonnes, up 1.4%

13. Frankfurt, Germany - 2.18 million metric tonnes, down 0.8%

14. Paris, France - 2.16 million metric tonnes, down 1.8%

15. Miami, Florida - 2.13 million metric tonnes, up 2.8%

16. Beijing, China - 2.07 million metric tonnes, up 2.2%

17. Guangzhou, China - 1.89 million metric tonnes, up 6.2%

18. Chicago, Illinois - 1.81 million metric tonnes, up 5%

19. London, United Kingdom - 1.77 million metric tonnes, down 1.3%

20. Amsterdam, Netherlands - 1.74 million metric tonnes, down 2.7%

This totaled to 51.31 million metric tonnes of cargo in 2018, up 1.4% from the 2017 numbers.

ACI also said two of the fastest-growing airports in 2018 handling more than 250,000 metric tonnes of air cargo are based in the US - Rockford Airport west of Chicago and Philadelphia Airport.

The Top 5 fastest-growing airport in 2018 are:

1. Rockford Airport, Illinois - 306, 332 metric tonnes, up 56.6%

2. Nairobi Airport, Kenya - 342, 579 metric tonnes, up 25.2%

3. Liege Airport, Belgium - 871, 596 metric tonnes, up 21.6%

4. Xi'an Airport, China - 312, 639 metric tonnes, up 20.3%

5. Philadelphia Airport, Pennsylvania - 503, 766 metric tonnes, up 20%

"Rockford, an expansive air cargo hub in the United States, was the fastest-growing airport in 2018 for airports that handled more than 250,000 metric tonnes of air cargo," ACI said in a statement.

The significant rise in volume is due to the operation of the e-commerce giant, Amazon.

"Positioning itself as an e-commerce freight hub for online retail giant Amazon, the airport’s traffic grew 56.6% in 2018," the trade association of the world’s airports added.