Cathay Cargo signalled that the Hong Kong cargo carrier is ending 2023 on a high note despite tepid general industry expectations as it looks to build on new growth opportunities for 2024.
James Evans, GM of Cargo Commercial at Cathay, noted a "promising end to a challenging year" in his cargo clan message as he said 2023 had been a "challenging but successful year" for the carrier.
"Despite pessimism in some quarters of the industry, we have experienced a pronounced traditional year-end peak, indicating a level of optimism returning to the market," he said, adding that this is more impressive despite a number of disruptions that impacted its services, including wild weather in Hong Kong in the autumn, and then very heavy – and early – snowfall in Anchorage.
"Despite these challenges, the good has definitely outshone the bad," Evans said.
More importantly, the Cathay Cargo executive said the carrier's cargo capacity is now back to 85% against pre-pandemic levels, revenues have also stabilised, and "while they’re not as high as the past couple of years, they are sustaining at levels higher than before the pandemic."
"... While the market has been dominated by the continuing growth of e-commerce, which suits our geography and network and will continue to be a major source of air cargo, the volumes of our specialised solutions have also increased," he added.
Evans pointed out that these specialised solutions are an area that Cathay can further deliver, adding that the carrier also attained CEIV Lithium accreditation — taking more risks out of shipping lithium-ion batteries.
"There will be more to come as we digitalise more of our operational processes for greater efficiency and reliability," he said.
Evans noted that in commercial terms, Cathay Cargo's digitalisation programme was developed with more direct links for our customers to Click and ship via application programming interfaces (APIs), giving users direct access to pricing and space.
He added that the year also ended with two exciting pieces of news about Cathay's growth ambitions.
"We have ordered six next-generation Airbus A350F freighters and secured the right to acquire 20 more so that we can grow our freighter service and network in future years," Evans said.
He added that the carrier is also now accepting imports to the Greater Bay Area via our intermodal links to Dongguan direct from Hong Kong International Airport.
"While this region is the engine behind e-commerce exports, it is also a very strong consumer market in its own right," the Cathay GM of Cargo Commercial added.
"I think these developments demonstrate we are still in a growth mindset for the long term as we seek to maintain our and Hong Kong’s premier status for air cargo," he added.