Singapore Airlines opens 'superhub' freight center

Singapore Airlines opens 'superhub' freight center

SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore Airlines Ltd. (SIA) yesterday inaugurated a massive new freight terminal that boosts the island's role as a transshipment center, adding that another cargo center was already being planned for 1999.

The "superhub," the fifth cargo terminal at the airport, is designed specially for transshipment and will be used exclusively by SIA, the world's most profitable airline, and its subsidiary Silk Air (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.

Fifty-eight percent of SIA's cargo throughput comes from transshipment, compared to an average of five percent for most airlines, an airline statement said. This reflected Singapore's traditional status as trading center.

The superhub's annual capacity of 500,000 tons boosts to 1.2 million tons the total capacity of SIA ground-handling subsidiary SATS Airport Services Pte. Ltd., the company statement said.

The fully automated, multi-level facility has 33,000 square meters (109, 000 square feet) of cargo processing and storage space and features specialized storage facilities for live animals and valuable shipments.

Its opening eases pressure on the four cargo terminals available to other airlines, the statement said.

SIA, pursuing a supply-driven strategy, is expanding its passenger and cargo handling capacity in anticipation of a continued travel and trade boom in the Asia-Pacific region in the 21st century.

Cheong Choong Kong, chairman of SATS Airport Services, said a sixth cargo terminal was being planned for 1999 with an annual capacity of 750,000 tons.

SIA reported a 13.5 percent increase in group net profit to S$523 million (US$373.6 million) in the six months to September 30 on revenues of S$3.37 billion, reinforcing its status as the world's most profitable airline.

It enjoyed a net profit of S$918 million in its financial year to March 1995.