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Hong Kong eyes new Pinglu Canal as route to port revival

Hong Kong is looking to the new Pinglu Canal to stem the decline in cargo volumes at its port by extending its reach into western China's inland markets, and strengthening its role as a regional transhipment hub. The Hong Kong government sees the newly opened canal, which links inland industries in China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, with Beibu Gulf, as a means to broaden the port's cargo catchment area and competitiveness. Decades ago, Hong Kong competed with Singapore and Rotterdam as the world's busiest port. But in recent years, mainland Chinese ports have taken the top spots as exports surged and port infrastructure was upgraded. By 2025, Hong Kong was ranked the 12 busiest port, as volumes dropped 6%, to 12.91m teu. Chan Mei-po, secretary for transport and logistics, said at a legislative council meeting yesterday that Hong Kong would "seize the opportunity presented by the opening of the Guangxi Pinglu Canal". The government aims to extend Hong Kong's cargo source base inland, while developing more multimodal connections with China's western land-sea corridor. The strategy reflects a broader shift in Hong Kong's approach to its port. Rather than relying solely on its traditional role as a high-volume container gateway, the government wants to transform it into a "value port", with greater emphasis on logistics, maritime services, finance, digitalisation, and other higher-value activities. But it also stressed this did not mean abandoning the physical port. Ms Chan said: "We are closely aligned with the dual-core strategy of enhancing port competitiveness and improving the high value-added maritime service ecosystem." Hong Kong is already growing the links. Container traffic between Guangxi and Hong Kong reached 160,000 teu in the first half of 2026, up 22% year on year, according to the government. which wants to build on this growth by combining the canal with existing sea-rail services and new land and river connections. Among the services already linking Hong Kong to China's western land-sea corridor are a Hong Kong-Guizhou daily service and a Chongqing-Qinzhou-Hong Kong sea-rail intermodal service. And Ms Chan said Hong Kong port retained significant operational strengths. Average containership turnaround was slightly more than one day, about half the average for the world's top 20 container ports. Kwai Tsing Container Terminal had also recently handled more than 8,300 container moves on a vessel with capacity of more than 23,000 teu. The government is also proceeding with the "intelligent transformation" of Kwai Tsing, supporting the development of shore power and potentially to introduce port fee discounts to attract liner calls. At the same time, Hong Kong is expanding its port community system, which has more than 9,000 registered companies, and has facilitated more than 20 cases of trade financing using trusted cargo-flow data.

FlyTrix launches new online OBC booking platform

US time-critical logistics firm FlyTrix has launched a new booking platform for time-critical but non-commercial document transport. FlyTrix's new offering is called DocumentJet. It is designed to make this type of specialised transport easily accessible without a traditional quoting process. OBC and hand-carry services have traditionally been used primarily by industries such as aerospace, manufacturing and healthcare, chief executive and founder Adrian Kaesberg noted, but DocumentJet is designed to appeal to a wider customer base. Users enter pick-up and delivery locations online and receive a price and estimated delivery window. The shipment can be booked directly by credit card. FlyTrix will then assign an available courier, select suitable scheduled passenger flights and arrange the first- and last-mile transportation. A dedicated courier accompanies any document from origin to destination, moving as a regular passenger on scheduled flights. DocumentJet is limited to documents with no commercial customs value but are of time-critical importance. Kaseberg informed: "We deliberately designed DocumentJet around a narrowly defined type of shipment that can be booked online with as little friction as possible. "Shipments involving commercial goods or more complex customs requirements will continue to be handled individually through our regular FlyTrix channels." As of today, DocumentJet is available for pick-ups and deliveries across approximately 120 countries. "We didn't want DocumentJet to look or feel like software built for freight forwarders," Kaesberg said. "There are no complicated logistics terms or lengthy account set-ups. If someone can book a flight or a hotel online, they should be able to book DocumentJet." The platform is available in English, German, Spanish, French and Italian, and most DocumentJet shipments are expected to be delivered on the same day or the following day, depending on routing and flight availability. "With a time-critical shipment, you can't simply take an airfare and add a margin," Kaesberg pointed out. "There are dozens of operational dependencies that have to work at the same time, from airport accessibility and connection times to immigration requirements and the availability of a suitable courier." Kaesberg said that DocumentJet is not intended to compete with conventional express parcel operators on everyday shipments. "DocumentJet will never be a mass-market service," he informed. "It is designed for exceptional situations where time and predictability matter more than price." International DocumentJet shipments typically cost between $2,500 and $6,000, although the price varies significantly depending on distance, flight availability and routing.

AI drives global trade as well as air cargo

The rapid growth in demand for artificial intelligence (AI-related) goods that has consumed air cargo capacity out of Asia has also helped insulate global trade against tariffs and geopolitical issues, the latest DHL Globalisation Tracker has found. There has been strong demand for goods used to build AI infrastructure, such as semiconductors and data-transmission equipment, according to the report released by DHL and New York University's Stern School of Business. Trade in AI-enabling goods drove 42% of goods trade growth in 2025, and this share rose to 76% during the first quarter of 2026, according to WTO and OECD analysis, highlighted the Globalisation Tracker. "The biggest story in global trade right now is AI - not tariffs," said John Pearson, chief executive of DHL Express. "Every AI query ultimately depends on logistics. Chips, networking equipment and the many other goods behind this technology must be in the right place at the right time. "DHL connects the businesses and markets behind these complex supply chains. Whenever innovation creates new trade flows, our global network helps keep them moving." Overall, the report shows that global goods trade grew faster in the first half of 2026 than in any half-year in the past 15 years, apart from the exceptional Covid rebound. Among all regions, East Asia and the Pacific recorded the strongest trade growth. The value of its trade rose 24% in the first five months of 2026 compared with the same period in 2025. Europe followed with 12% and Sub-Saharan Africa with 11%. East Asia and the Pacific not only recorded the strongest growth, but also saw a larger share of its trade stay within the region. This share increased from 57% in 2025 to 60% in the first five months of 2026. Strong Asian supply chains serving the AI boom contributed to this increase, stressed the report. Air cargo capacity out of Southeast Asia is now dominated by AI and semiconductor air cargo shipments instead of e-commerce, recent analysis by Dimerco found. War and tariffs impact The AI boom may have outweighed geopolitical shocks, but the Middle East conflict and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz disrupted supply chains and saw airlines pause cargo operations with the cancellation of flights to countries in the region - some of which are yet to be reinstated. But the effects on trade remained concentrated, according to the Globalisation Tracker. Economies dependent on the Strait were hit particularly hard. For example, the value of trade fell 37% in Saudi Arabia and 7% in the United Arab Emirates in the first five months of 2026 compared with the same period in 2025. Likewise, US tariffs reached their highest levels in decades, but their global impact was limited. One reason is that the US accounted for only 13% of world imports in recent years, with roughly half of those imports exempt from the tariff increases as of August. Another is that most countries refrained from broad retaliation. Many instead increased efforts to secure access to alternative markets through new trade agreements. Looking ahead, global goods trade is projected to expand by an average of 3.4% per year through 2029. That would be substantially faster than the 2.7% rate recorded over the previous decade, noted Globalisation Tracker. "The surprise is not only that global trade kept growing through new tariffs and the Iran war," said Prof. Steven A. Altman, director of the DHL Initiative on Globalization at NYU Stern's Center for the Future of Management. "The outlook is now stronger than it was before either shock. This reminds us to look beyond the most visible disruptions and recognise the deeper reasons why trade remains so resilient. "The AI trade boom highlights the demand for goods and services that can only be provided efficiently when specialised producers work together across countries. "It also shows how companies continually adapt to keep trade moving through disruptions and policy shifts."