[Hongde Information] Air Cargo: Hub Engine Releases Strong Development Kinetic Energy

Hongde International learned that the Zhengzhou-Luxembourg "Air Silk Road" International Cooperation Forum was held in Zhengzhou recently. At the parallel sub-forum of the international air cargo hub, representatives from the Civil Aviation Administration, local governments, airports, aviation enterprises and other parties had full exchanges, setting off an upsurge of discussion on the construction of the air cargo hub.

So, under the new concept, new model and new development pattern, how should we focus on the development of international air cargo hub? Under the new development pattern of "double cycle", how should air cargo transform? The reporter tried to find the answer from several domestic hub airports that make freight.

01Improve route network accessibilityContinue to expand the "circle of friends"

Since 2014, the Zhengzhou-Luxembourg route has completed a total of more than 900,000 tons of international freight. The capacity of Luxembourg cargo airlines in Zhengzhou has increased from 2 shifts per week to 14 shifts per week, reaching 29 shifts per week at most. In recent years, the types of goods transported by Zheng Lu's "air silk road" have gradually developed from a single traditional light industrial product to more than 10 categories and more than 200 varieties covering precision instruments, living animals and so on. This "air silk road" is creating more and more new opportunities for industrial development, regional economy and opening up to the outside world.

The relevant person in charge of Henan Airport Group stated that as the starting point of the "Air Silk Road", Zhengzhou Airport took the construction of an air cargo hub as an opportunity to build a route network radiating Europe, the United States, Asia, and Africa, and realized the "Air Silk Road". The transformation from "serial point connection" to "network formation" has formed a comprehensive air cargo transportation system covering the whole country in 4 hours and reaching the world in 24 hours, it has a huge demonstration effect on the support and guidance of the international and domestic dual-cycle supply chain and industrial chain.

At present, Zhengzhou Airport has an annual cargo and mail throughput of more than 700000 tons, ranking among the top 40 cargo airports in the world, of which international and regional cargo traffic accounts for more than 77%. The all-cargo route network connects 48 cities in 28 countries and regions in the three major economic zones of Europe, America and Asia, and the scope of cargo collection and distribution covers more than 90 large and medium-sized cities in China's Yangtze River Delta and other major economic zones. Zhengzhou Airport has become a modern manufacturing highland and export engine in the 21st century, the carrier function of the "Air Silk Road" of Zhengzhou Airport is being enlarged, and its position in global air cargo is becoming more and more important, allowing Henan to better integrate into the world and let the world know Henan through the "Air Silk Road.

While Zhengzhou Airport, which is located in the inland, has built bridges of air cooperation, friendship, and people-to-people bridges, airports in other regions of the country have also recently been using their respective advantages to develop air cargo business. Guangxi Civil Aviation has taken advantage of neighboring Southeast Asian countries. The unique advantages of the country continue to expand the "circle of friends" of China-ASEAN air cargo ".

In 2021, the trade volume between China and ASEAN reached a new high. A total of 19 domestic airlines and 22 foreign airlines operated China-ASEAN all-cargo aircraft and "passenger-to-cargo" flights, with a total of 1175 flights per week. 2022 is the first year of the China-ASEAN Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and the first year of the formal implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP). In order to seize the strategic opportunity period for the development of international air cargo, Guangxi Civil Aviation focuses on building an important domestic and international double-cycle node hub, insisting on freight first, promoting passengers with cargo, and both passenger and cargo, and making every effort to build Nanning international air cargo hub, and international air cargo maintains high Speed growth trend.

On September 12, 2022, a Boeing 737-800BCF all-cargo plane of Tianjin Cargo Airlines, loaded with fresh seafood such as eels, arrived at Nanning Wuwei International Airport from Manila International Airport in the Philippines, marking the official opening of the Nanning-Manila international route. The route is planned to fly seven times a week. The export goods are mainly e-commerce products, medical materials, mechanical and electrical products, high-tech products, integrated circuits and other high value-added export goods, while the imported goods are mostly specialty fruits and seafood. In addition to Tianjin cargo flights, Nanning Airport has also introduced one on-site all-cargo aircraft capacity from Yuantong Airlines, with four on-site all-cargo aircraft. Nanning Airport currently has a total of 16 international cargo routes and 13 flights to 8 countries and 12 cities in ASEAN and South Asia. Data show that in 2019, the international (regional) cargo and mail throughput of Nanning Airport was only 2295 tons, breaking through the 10,000-ton mark in 2020, breaking through 20000 tons in 2021, reaching 23800 tons, and is expected to reach more than 60000 tons in 2022. The year-on-year growth rate ranks first among 10 million airports in the country.

02Improve infrastructure constructionEnhance service "hard" strength

Air cargo hub airport plays a fundamental role in the development of aviation logistics. Experts said that the development of air cargo is not only considering the competition of air route network, but also the perfection of ground infrastructure.

At Zhengzhou Airport at the end of the year and the beginning of the year, the new North Cargo Area has an endless stream of flights and frequent cargo transportation. Since 12:00 on September 7, 2022, following Cathay Pacific, Hainan Airlines, Russian Volga-Dnieper Airlines, and Luxembourg Cargo Airlines, all-cargo planes of more than 20 domestic and foreign cargo airlines have successively moved from the West Cargo Station of Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport to the North Cargo Area for operation, and the aviation super cargo terminal has entered a busy transportation period.

It is understood that Zhengzhou Airport North Cargo Area has a total investment of 4.8 billion yuan and a total construction area of 160000 square meters, of which the North Cargo Station has a reservoir area of 70000 square meters and a designed annual support capacity of 600000 tons. The single cargo depot area and cargo and mail support capacity rank first in central China and in the forefront of the country. There are 16 new cargo planes, 3000 square meters of cold chain center and 4500 square meters of fresh fruit and edible aquatic animal inspection area. So far, the total area of Zhengzhou Airport cargo terminal will reach 198000 square meters, with 25 cargo seats and an annual cargo and mail support capacity of 1.1 million tons. At the same time, Zhengzhou Airport North Cargo Area has widely applied information technology in its operation and management. It has introduced cloud computing, Internet of Things, big data and automatic facilities and equipment such as elevated intelligent cargo warehouse, automatic trailer, unmanned forklift truck, etc. to promote the application of avionics waybill and strive to build a new type of intelligent cargo station with electronic waybill, automatic equipment and unmanned operation.

The person in charge of Henan Airport Group said that for many years, Zhengzhou Airport has always adhered to facing the world, the future, and customers, and strives to build a large-scale, high-efficiency, multi-functional, and intelligent aviation super cargo terminal for global aviation companies to come to Zhengzhou Airport. Provide basic guarantee for cargo business. The operation of the North Cargo Area is of great significance to further enhance the influence of Zhengzhou International Aviation Hub, promote the "Air Silk Road" to fly more and more widely, and help accelerate the creation of a new inland open highland.

Like Zhengzhou Airport, Hubei Ezhou Airport is also attracting the attention of freight forwarders. At 04:21 on November 27, 2022, a loud roar broke the silence of the winter night, and an all-cargo plane taking off from Shenzhen Baoan Airport landed smoothly at Ezhou Huahu Airport; after unloading, the plane quickly loaded express mail and returned at 06:20. This one drop in less than two hours marked the opening of the cargo route to Ezhou Huahu Airport.

As the first airport in Asia, the fourth in the world and the only professional cargo hub airport in China, Ezhou Huahu Airport is the "zero breaker" of China's cargo hub airport. A series of digital construction technologies are adopted in the whole process of airport construction, and 15 new technologies such as 5G, smart pavement, few people apron, smart security and smart energy are adopted for operation. Many of these new technologies are applied for the first time in the region, industry and even the country, it has 4 industry benchmarking demonstration projects from the National Development and Reform Commission, the Civil Aviation Administration, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The declared patents and copyrights have won 23 international and domestic awards.

It is understood that Ezhou Huahu Airport will open the freight function, which will make Shunfeng's products more than 3 hours away from the industry average. The aging network is not only the domestic aging network, but also the core advantage of serving global and supply chain products. It will form a nationwide express logistics freight hub in the central region and reshape the air freight market structure.

03Play the core role of the airport platformImprove security efficiency

The air cargo chain is long and has many links, involving many market players and government departments. Therefore, giving full play to the role of the airport platform is a key link to promote the quality and efficiency of aviation logistics practitioners.

On May 8, 2020, the Civil Aviation Administration officially approved the Implementation Plan for the Pilot Work of Avionics Cargo at Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport. After two years of pilot operation, Henan Airport Group has actively promoted the application of electronic waybills by airlines and agents operating in Zheng. In terms of international business, some airlines have canceled the use of paper air waybills at Zhengzhou Airport and will soon carry out electronic waybill business. In terms of domestic business, more than 10 airline companies have achieved data exchange with Zhengzhou Airport's electronic waybill neutral platform. By the end of May 2022, the number of electronic cargo platform application enterprises at Zhengzhou Airport had reached 100, basically covering all aviation logistics enterprises operating at Zhengzhou Airport, completing the departure of nearly 50000 orders and 80000 tons of goods.

In terms of business application innovation, Henan Airport Group relies on the advantages of data connectivity of the electronic freight platform to support the construction of pilot projects of overseas freight stations, build an information service platform for overseas freight stations, fully improve the operation efficiency of overseas freight stations, and make supervision more secure, guarantee more efficient, process more visual and service more accurate. At the same time, the Zhengzhou Airport Avionics Cargo Pilot Project has also innovated in terms of concepts, mechanisms, technologies, operations, and processes. It has continuously explored on the basis of first trials, summarized experience in a timely manner, and formed an effective experience that can be replicated and promoted. The model and strategic infrastructure planning provide pilot experience for the electronic and intelligent advancement of the aviation logistics industry.

Haikou Meilan Airport, which has always dared to try, also has a "coup" to improve security and efficiency ". On December 1, 2022, Hainan Free Trade Port's first cross-border e-commerce B2B direct export (hereinafter referred to as "9710") package was successfully cleared from Haikou Meilan International Airport to Paris, France, marking the official opening of meilan airport's cross-border e-commerce "9710" export business, which means that meilan airport has become the first airport port in Hainan Free Trade Port to achieve full coverage of cross-border e-commerce export business.

It is reported that the first order of the "9710" is electronic products, clothing accessories, etc., with a total of 184 tickets and 3158 kilograms, and the total value of the goods is 567009.38 yuan. After the cross-border e-commerce packages arrive at meilan airport, they can be directly sorted, declared, inspected, boardless, departed and other full-chain operations.

In order to promote the construction of an international air cargo hub, Meilan Airport will actively explore and solve the bottleneck problem restricting the development of cross-border e-commerce business with the support of Haikou Jiangdong New District Administration, Haikou Meilan Airport Customs, Haikou Branch Center of China Electronic Port Data Center and other relevant units, and promote the optimization and upgrading of the cargo security system by establishing an independent station information system, carrying out data testing and real order testing, and providing one-stop service for cargo clearance, realize the interconnection of data and information, fully open up the "golden channel" of Hainan's cross-border e-commerce airport port, and provide strong support for Hainan to build an export-oriented economic development pattern and integrate into the global industrial chain in an all-round way.

(WeChat Public Number: Hongde International Freight, Global Easy GO)

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