Hong Kong Air Cargo Industry Services (Hacis) has opened a new climate-controlled facility to support the increasing volumes of perishables and temperature-sensitive goods entering and transiting the Hong Kong market.
Ringo Chan, executive director of Hacis, told Asia Cargo News that the Covid-19 pandemic over the past years had driven increased consumption of fresh produce and other temperature-sensitive e-commerce items, thus the need to expand handling capabilities to serve the segment.
Regarding the announcement of the new climate-controlled facility, he explained that the decision to open Hacis’ Cool Zone was driven by the growth in cool chain shipments arriving at Hong Kong International Airport and destined for e-commerce customers.
“The Hacis E-commerce Fulfilment Centre needed to support this expansion of temperature-sensitive e-commerce business to various local and overseas destinations, and having reliable and efficient chiller facilities was essential to ensure the preservation of these shipments in prime condition,” he added.
In addition, Chan emphasized the importance of keeping the cargo handling time as short as possible for time- and temperature-sensitive perishables. In an earlier announcement, he said that the Cool Zone would take “no more than seven hours from unloading the cargo from the aircraft to finishing the fulfilment process.”
“For example, using Hacis’ Cool Zone would allow cargo arriving in Hong Kong to be quickly processed and delivered to local customers on the same day,” he said. “That probably won’t be possible if the consignee deals with the fulfilment process using a downtown facility.”
Hacis, the value-added logistics arm of the Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Limited (Hactl), expects the volume of temperature-sensitive cargo and perishables in Hong Kong to expand as demand remains high.
Chan noted, however, that perishables e-commerce traffic is “relatively new and small,“ so there’s still no meaningful historical data yet to show the growth trend in the segment.
“The pandemic increased household consumption of fresh foodstuff, and further growth will take place as markets and air services continue to recover post-Covid-19,“ Chan told Asia Cargo News. “So we expect continuing growth in online-to-offline (O2O) e-commerce, which will include the commodities for which this facility is designed.”
The new Cool Zone facility, directly linked to Hactl’s Super Terminal 1 automated Box Storage System (BSS), provides a total, climate-controlled handling solution. This minimizes the transit times for processing temperature-sensitive cargo before shipments are transported either to the agent’s warehouse or directly to customers.
According to Hacis, once the cargo is transferred to the Cool Zone, its staff performs all required processes, such as pick, pack and labelling, before loading the cargo onto temperature-controlled customer vehicles waiting at the facility’s dedicated truck docks.
Alternatively, orders can be delivered directly from the Cool Zone to the end customer by courier.
“Hacis’ Cool Zone is unique in providing a total one-stop-shop solution for temperature-sensitive commodities, with all processes carried out in controlled conditions. This supports the expansion of online-to-offline (O2O) e-commerce businesses to various local and overseas destinations,” said Chan.
The new facility also offers a handling area with temperatures down to 15°C and provides storage for chilled, fresh and frozen commodities ranging from +25°C to -25°C.
Chan said early users of the new temperature-controlled cargo facility had been importers of fruit, yoghurt, snowy mooncake and chocolates, with most traffic inbound from Asian counties. The regular shipments also comprise 100 pieces weighing 1 to 5 kilos each.
“We anticipate an increase in the amount of temperature-controlled cargo being handled as there is a growing demand for direct supply of products such as fruits from Japan and Korea,” he told Asia Cargo News.
Although plans could also include pharmaceuticals, the focus of the new Cool Zone facility is the perishables food segment, according to Chan. The recent investments made by Hactl and Hacis had positioned both companies firmly to cater to the current and expected future increase in volume within the segment.
“Hactl and Hacis’ recent investments in serving this traffic have placed us in a strong position to anticipate and accommodate further growth, and no further immediate investments are therefore considered necessary at this time,” he said.
“At this moment, we will focus on the demand for foodstuffs and fine-tune our facilities and services. We will review and explore the potential for pharma at a later stage,” said Chan.
The global cold chain market size, valued at US$279.94 billion in 2022, is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.6% from 2023 to 2030, with Asia-Pacific anticipated to be the fastest-growing regional market over the projected period, according to a study by Grand View Research.
By Charlee C. Delavin
Asia Cargo News | Hong Kong
