Tag: shipping

  • Hong Kong to Lift Ban on Vape Shipments

    Hong Kong to Lift Ban on Vape Shipments

    The government of Hong Kong has decided to reverse its ban on the transshipment of vapor products, reports Loadstar.

    Media reports claim the banned cargo amounts to about 330,000 tons a year—the equivalent of some 10 percent of Hong Kong’s annual export volumes by air, according to the Hong Kong Association of Freight Forwarding and Logistics.

    The value of the re-export cargo affected by the ban was estimated to exceed CNY120 billion ($17.33 billion).

    While some transshipment by air had continued to be permitted, beginning in April of last year, vapes entering Hong Kong by land or sea for onward transport by air were banned. However, with the bulk of these products made in neighboring Dongguan, exporters were keen to ship them via land to Hong Kong International Airport.

    Once the proposal is passed, the goods will be able to enter Hong Kong through a secure channel on dedicated barges and be delivered straight to the airport.

    “The scheme is only to facilitate direct transshipment through Hong Kong, and the goods will not be available for domestic consumption. The proposal is in response to the demand of the Hong Kong air freight industry,” said Willy Lin, chairman of the Hong Kong Shippers Council.

    “We hope we could get back some flights lost to competitor airports due to [the] stoppage of shipments of e-cigarettes and related substances through Hong Kong.”

  • Hong Kong May Resume ENDS Shipments

    Hong Kong May Resume ENDS Shipments

    Photo: Tatiana Morozova

    The Hong Kong government wants to resume shipment of alternative smoking products through the city to boost the air cargo industry, reports the South China Morning Post. Domestic sales would remain illegal under the proposal.

    The city currently prohibits imports and transshipment of electronic nicotine-delivery devices, many of which are manufactured in neighboring Shenzhen.

    “The government hopes to ensure the policy on the importation ban on alternative smoking products will be preserved while maintaining Hong Kong’s position as a leading international aviation and logistics hub,” said Pamela Lam Nga-man, deputy secretary for transport and logistics.

    Hong Kong International Airport handled 5 million tons of cargo in 2021, which is about 42 percent of the city’s overseas trade worth about HKD4.34 trillion ($556 billion). Air cargo volumes fell 18 percent on average from May to October of 2022 compared with the same period last year. Some of this decline was attributed to loss of transshipment of alternative smoking products from mainland China; most of the materials were transported through Hong Kong.

    Under the government’s proposal, products that arrive by sea for air shipment would use a mainland logistics park set up under a pilot transshipment scheme between the city’s airport and the mainland city of Dongguan. A scheme for secure road transport from the mainland would be set up, documents would have to accompany shipments to prevent them leaking into the black market, and products would have to be directly transferred by designated routing in Hong Kong. Goods would be delivered to restricted areas of the airport and held until flown out. Provision of advance cargo information, application of designated seal or e-lock on containers and GPS tracking of cargo would also be used.