I’d like to start with the recent announcement concerning senior moves at the Swire Group. After five years leading Cathay Cargo, I’ll be moving on towards the end of the year to become Group Director of Corporate Development at the HAECO organisation. My role will be assumed by Dominic Perrett, current Regional General Manager Southeast Asia. It goes without saying that I will miss all the colleagues at Cathay Cargo and also the industry friends with whom I have worked over the past years, and I thank everyone for making my time in the air cargo industry so special. It's been a privilege to be part of the successes Cathay Cargo has achieved in recent years and we will have many more to come in the future! 

Back to the present time, and the temporary pause in tariff situation has helped stabilise our commercial performance over the past few weeks. The expectation is that we will learn more on decisions around the global trade situation in terms of reciprocal global tariffs on 9 July for the region, and about Chinese Mainland tariffs in August. Read on to find out what we have been doing to remain agile and focused during these uncertain times.

These will hopefully set a new baseline for future demand and remove some of the uncertainty we experienced at the start of the year. The teams have done a fantastic job adapting to this change – using our network to fill gaps in tonnage, redeploying capacity to take advantage of areas where the markets are still strong and using data to uncover new opportunities. Previously, opportunities were hard to come by due to strong loads out of Hong Kong. Credit to our teams around the world, particularly in Southeast and Northeast Asia, for responding with such agility.

Keeping in touch with our customers at industry events

Being close to customers remains key to our success, especially amid market uncertainty. The latest opportunity was Air Cargo Europe in Munich, which we attended for the first time as an exhibitor ahead of our inaugural passenger flights to the city. Our commercial teams met with customers and suppliers to promote the Cathay Cargo brand, showcase our capabilities in specialist cargo carriage and hosted many positive meetings at our very impressive booth during the course of the event.

At the end of June, we hosted the TIACA (The International Air Cargo Association) Executive Summit in Hong Kong. This is a trade body that represents all parts of the air cargo industry and it was a privilege to welcome delegates to the world’s busiest air cargo hub and highlight our own credentials as a super-connector in global logistics. Topics included the current challenges in logistics and people shared their latest developments and ideas. As host airline, we were able to promote our brand both visually and with our leadership in a number of the panel and speaker sessions. Backed by strong support from the Hong Kong SAR Government and Airport Authority, we were able to show Hong Kong in a very positive light and generate huge positivity for the continued growth of our home base. You will be able to read more about this soon.

Read more: Cathay Cargo at Air Cargo Europe

Bringing VR to operational training

Digitalisation is a core objective at Cathay Cargo, and new technologies are making an impact across the business. We recently unveiled the Cargo VR CAVE – a state-of-the-art training facility developed in collaboration with the University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong SAR Government. This new and immersive environment will help operational teams engage in real-world scenarios in a safe setting – from loading and unloading and to tying down different types of shipment to cargo cabin safety. It will bring to life a training area that traditionally has been statically delivered, and will go a long way to help our learners retain knowledge and deliver a safe and excellent service to our customers. 

Read more: Training in Cathay Cargo’s immersive VR CAVE

The honour of shipping terracotta warriors

 Our business sees a lot of variety, especially with shipments that use our specialist shipping solutions – in this case Cathay Expert and Cathay Secure. We recently transported one of the Chinese Mainland’s most revered national treasures: the Xi’an terracotta warriors. It was an honour to be entrusted with this priceless and fragile cargo, moving it from Xi’an to Perth in Australia for an exhibition. It took meticulous planning and our teams delivered a smooth operation from start to finish. Full credit to all those involved.

Read more: Cathay Cargo flies terracotta warriors from Xi’an to Perth 

Cathay Live Animals gets a new look

We continue to refresh our shipment solutions and are proud to relaunch the new-look Cathay Live Animal solution. Although it’s a very targeted segment, it remains complex, and requires expert handling, care and specialised knowledge. It also epitomises our We Know How philosophy. To mark the occasion, we look back at some of our most significant animal shipments. Next off the line will be Cathay Dangerous Goods, and we look forward to enhancing that product and communicating developments in due course.

Read more: 5 of Cathay Cargo’s most memorable live animal shipments

Air Hong Kong finishes its fleet modernisation

Finally, a quick update about our other fleet at our home hub, Air Hong Kong. It operates overnight express parcel services for our key customer, DHL Express, while we act as GSA for any spare capacity to feed our network. The fleet has finalised its conversion to an all-Airbus A330F carrier – with the last A300 was recently returned to its lessor in Europe after 21 years of dedicated service. The fleet now offers more capacity and improved fuel efficiency, which is good news for us and Hong Kong’s cargo business. Congratulations to the entire team for making this milestone possible.

Read more: Air Hong Kong becomes an all Airbus A330F fleet