Airport set to handle even more cargo

By Ananth Krishnan  |   2008-6-20  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

THE cargo-handling capacity of Pudong International Airport will be significantly enhanced this October with the opening of a new cargo facility by the Shanghai Pudong International Airport Cargo Terminal Co (PACTL).

The 370,000-square-meter area is designed to handle 1.2 million tons of cargo every year, and will double PACTL's existing capacity. The new facility is in the western extension of the airport, and is part of the 2.38-square-kilometer cargo area of the West Logistics Zone opened by the Shanghai Airport Authority in March.

"Our third cargo terminal will open in October, as a part of the airport's expansion into the west," Bettina Ganghofer, deputy general manager, PACTL, told Shanghai Daily.

PACTL, a joint venture between the Shanghai Airport, Lufthansa Cargo and JHJ Logistic Management, processed 1.1 million tons of cargo last year ?? 43 percent of the total tonnage that passed through Pudong International Airport.

Ganghofer expects a 9-12 percent increase in PACTL's cargo traffic next year. "We still have enough room for us to meet the needs of the next two years, as we have been helped by the loosening up of the slot situation with the opening of the third runway," she said.

Pudong airport handled 2.5 million tons of cargo last year.