Memphis International Airport remains the World’s busiest for cargo

Despite volume falls of nearly 4%, Memphis held of competition from Far East to hold on to title.

Almost 3.7 million metric tons of cargo moved through Memphis International Airport, a drop of 3.8% from 2007.

The volume was enough to stay ahead of Hong Kong’s total of about 3.63 million metric tons, a 3.1% slide.

Faster-growing international shipments, particularly from China, had led to predictions that Hong Kong would unseat Memphis in 2008. Memphis has held the title since 1992, when Airports Council International began keeping statistics.

Hong Kong shipments fell in each of the last five months of 2008, and its annual decline was the first in seven years. The airports council won’t certify last year’s results until later in 2009. The 2008 totals are from reports filed by the airports.

FedEx, the largest air-cargo shipper, has its main hub at Memphis and accounts for at least 95% of that airport’s cargo shipments. Memphis may have benefited as paperwork for financial institutions and for sales of foreclosed homes boosted FedEx’s overnight shipments, said David Beckerman, vice president of OAG Aviation Solutions in Washington.

Hong Kong’s air-cargo volume has more than doubled in the past decade as low wages and Chinese government policies spur the rise of manufacturing in the nearby Pearl River Delta. The mainland region is home to thousands of factories making furniture, consumer electronics and other goods for export.
This year, Hong Kong’s freight volume declined as US and European consumers pared spending because of the global recession and housing slumps. Airports in southern China also are providing more competition for Hong Kong.