Changi Airport handled over two million tonnes of airfreight in the past 12 months ending April 2017 – this is an all-time high in the airport’s history.

The volume of air cargo being shipped is a leading indicator of the strength of Singapore’s export-oriented economy. The growth is seen across all flows – imports, exports and transshipment.

Singapore buys products from all over the world – salmon from Norway, clothes from online tailors, furniture from digital furniture stores, etc. While these products are easily available at the click of a mouse or a short walk to the nearest supermarket, few would fully appreciate the effort taken to transport these products from the seller to the buyer across the entire supply chain, seamlessly.  

Changi’s key cargo segments include perishables, pharmaceuticals, and e-commerce cargo. These are processed at the Changi Airfreight Centre, the heart of our air cargo operations. Spanning 47 hectares, or the size of over 50 football fields, the Changi Airfreight Centre houses state-of-the-art facilities used by our ground handlers, freight forwarders and logistics companies.

Both our ground handlers (SATS Coolport and dnata Coolchain) have special temperature-controlled facilities to handle temperature-sensitive cargo such as perishables and pharmaceuticals. More recently, chilled meat shipments from New Zealand have been certified to transship through Singapore by air, and are then distributed by sea to markets in the European Union. Singapore is the first country to receive approval for this trade route, thereby opening up a new trade flow. With this arrangement, the shelf life of New Zealand meat in EU markets can be extended by about two weeks, while keeping logistics cost low, bringing value to both retailers and consumers.

On the e-commerce front, Singapore’s e-commerce is expected grow to a market size of S$5.4 billion by 2025, according to research done by Google and Temasek. DHL Express and SATS recently opened their DHL Express South Asia Hub and SATS eCommerce AirHub respectively. Featuring the latest technology which improves mailbag processing capabilities, this allows SATS to connect international e-commerce mail to an earlier flight for faster delivery, and improve traceability. Similarly, DHL’s new South Asia hub is the industry’s first fully automated express parcel sorting and processing system in South Asia, offering speedier deliveries for its customers through its enhanced operational capacity. 

Changi is home to 24 cargo airlines operating more than 300 weekly scheduled freighter flights linking Singapore to over 45 cities in some 25 countries. With the inclusion of our passenger flights which also has capacity to carry cargo, Changi offers unparalleled connectivity to the region.