Hacis unveils climate-controlled airport facility to accommodate growing cool chain e-commerce shipments at Hong Kong International Airport

Hong Kong Air Cargo Industry Services Limited (Hacis) has opened a climate-controlled “one-stop-shop” facility to cater for the growth in cool chain e-commerce shipments at Hong Kong International Airport.

The Cool Zone facility is designed to speed up the shipment handling process and avoid the potential cost and delays of transferring goods to downtown facilities for processing, before delivery to the agent’s warehouse or the final customer.

This could see perishable and temperature-sensitive cargo that arrives in Hong Kong be processed and delivered to local customers on the same day, said Hacis, the logistics arm of Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Limited (Hactl).

Hacis executive director Ringo Chan said: “For time- and temperature-sensitive perishables, it is important to keep the cargo handling time as short as possible.

“Hacis Cool Zone will take no more than 7 hours from unloading the cargo from the aircraft, to finishing the fulfilment process.

“So, for example, if the shipment is off-loaded in the morning, it can be delivered to a local end-customer the same day.

“That probably won’t be possible if the consignee deals with the fulfilment process using a downtown facility.”

Hacis’ Cool Zone – located within the company’s E-commerce Fulfilment Centre – offers a handling area with temperatures down to -15°C to preserve product quality throughout the fulfilment process.

The facility is equipped with storage racks, and work tables for pick and pack and labelling.

It can also integrate with agents’ own IT systems to feed direct status updates and stock information.

Hacis is also able to provide storage for chilled, fresh and frozen commodities ranging from +25°C to -25°C.

Shipments processed through the facility so far have mostly been inbound from Asian counties.