Singapore’s Changi Airport wants to focus on pharmaceuticals and e-commerce shipments as it expects cargo capacity to be strained until additional capacity is available from 2030.
Lim Ching Kiat, executive vice-president of air hub and cargo development at Changi Airport Group, which manages the airport, said that cargo capacity at the current facilities will be tight due to growing regional demand until more capacity is added in 2030.
Until then, the airport needs to prioritize the tenant mix and cargo types it will handle, with a focus on pharmaceuticals and e-commerce shipments, while making the best use of space in its current facilities, he said.
E-commerce has emerged as a key growth driver for the global air cargo industry, with new entrants such as fast-fashion giants Shein and Temu, as well as social commerce leader TikTok Shop, he added.
The city-state has also become the preferred gateway for the distribution of pharmaceuticals in the Southeast Asia region as investment from global biopharma giants like Thermo Fisher, Sanofi, BioNTech, and MSD continues to pour in.
From the 2030s, Singapore plans to develop a second logistics park at Changi Airport to expand its annual cargo capacity from 3 million tons now to 5.4 million tons, according to CNA.
The new park is planned to be a free trade zone, like the current one, to facilitate quick receipt and redistribution of cargo by third-party logistics services.
Last year, the airport handled 1.99 million tons of airfreight, up 14.6% from 2023, as reported by media.
Growth was seen in all cargo sectors, including exports, imports, and transshipments, fueled by improved traffic between Singapore and China and the U.S., and a recovery in the city-state’s electronics exports and re-exports.
Robust global demand for cross-border e-commerce shipments and the shift to airfreight due to disruptions in maritime transport are some other factors.
Changi’s top five air cargo markets were China, Australia, the U.S., Hong Kong, and India.
