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Opportunities for businesses that plan for post-pandemic world: Hactl
来源： 编辑：编辑部 发布：2020/04/10 09:42:24
HACTL's chief executive Wilson Kwong says that within hours of learning of the coronavirus outbreak on mainland China, the company started implementing a raft of measures to protect staff and visitors to its giant terminal.
These measures included temperature scanning of all visitors and staff at entrances; implementing home working for non-frontline workers; using video conference for internal and external meetings; banning business travel; quarantining staff who had been to the mainland; restricting dine-in services in the canteen; closing staff recreational facilities; and issuing face masks and sanitizer to all Hactl staff.
"We also rearranged duty rosters and rolled out work-from-home policy to minimise the number of workers on the premises at any one time," says Mr Kwong.
"Our motives were both in the cause of staff welfare, and also business continuity. Hactl is unusual among handlers in the vast volumes it processes daily, but also inasmuch as its operations are mission-critical to the efficient operation of the airport as a whole.
"While this subsequently became less important, with the eventual decimation of passenger flights, it certainly was business as usual in the early days of the virus.
"The measures proved effective. We have, of course, had a number of staff self-isolating where they have been to higher-risk areas - but the numbers have been limited, and have had no impact on our ability to maintain full service.
He continues: "When China's factories eventually started to return to work, it was quickly clear that there was a shortage of both ocean and belly-hold air freight capacity. Forwarders and logistics providers needed to restore their customers' supply chains as quickly as possible, and did it in the only way possible - by chartering freighters.
"So March saw a positive growth in freighter operations. Our overall volumes remained down on 2019, but this burst of maindeck operations certainly brought welcome relief.
"But, what of the future? While China may now be showing early signs of recovery, other parts of the world are only now going into full lockdown: with workers forced to stay at home, concerns over their future employment, and consumers cutting back on non-essential spending (bad news for an air cargo industry whose mainstay traffic is luxury, discretionary, big-ticket commodities).
"It's therefore far too early to attempt to make any precise predictions about how this all ends. It seems likely we will be looking at a new normal in many areas of our lives, and a greatly-changed aviation sector."
He adds: "While nobody would downplay the seriousness of the current crisis, the businesses that will emerge most successfully are those who are already planning for the post-pandemic world, and identifying opportunities. The key is staying positive."
These measures included temperature scanning of all visitors and staff at entrances; implementing home working for non-frontline workers; using video conference for internal and external meetings; banning business travel; quarantining staff who had been to the mainland; restricting dine-in services in the canteen; closing staff recreational facilities; and issuing face masks and sanitizer to all Hactl staff.
"We also rearranged duty rosters and rolled out work-from-home policy to minimise the number of workers on the premises at any one time," says Mr Kwong.
"Our motives were both in the cause of staff welfare, and also business continuity. Hactl is unusual among handlers in the vast volumes it processes daily, but also inasmuch as its operations are mission-critical to the efficient operation of the airport as a whole.
"While this subsequently became less important, with the eventual decimation of passenger flights, it certainly was business as usual in the early days of the virus.
"The measures proved effective. We have, of course, had a number of staff self-isolating where they have been to higher-risk areas - but the numbers have been limited, and have had no impact on our ability to maintain full service.
He continues: "When China's factories eventually started to return to work, it was quickly clear that there was a shortage of both ocean and belly-hold air freight capacity. Forwarders and logistics providers needed to restore their customers' supply chains as quickly as possible, and did it in the only way possible - by chartering freighters.
"So March saw a positive growth in freighter operations. Our overall volumes remained down on 2019, but this burst of maindeck operations certainly brought welcome relief.
"But, what of the future? While China may now be showing early signs of recovery, other parts of the world are only now going into full lockdown: with workers forced to stay at home, concerns over their future employment, and consumers cutting back on non-essential spending (bad news for an air cargo industry whose mainstay traffic is luxury, discretionary, big-ticket commodities).
"It's therefore far too early to attempt to make any precise predictions about how this all ends. It seems likely we will be looking at a new normal in many areas of our lives, and a greatly-changed aviation sector."
He adds: "While nobody would downplay the seriousness of the current crisis, the businesses that will emerge most successfully are those who are already planning for the post-pandemic world, and identifying opportunities. The key is staying positive."