Medical supplies are loaded onto a plane at the airport in April. WANG RENDONG/FOR CHINA DAILY

Promising future

Despite the pressure it faces, Shenzhen airport has overcome challenges and enhanced its freight capacity. The changes it has made mainly in response to the pandemic may prove crucial to its ambitions of consolidating competitiveness in cargo handling and becoming an international cargo transportation hub.

Wan said cold-chain delivery of medicines and other high-value products, such as seafood and fruit, will be a major area for growth.

The progress made at Shenzhen airport reflects China's efforts to catch up with global air freight leaders.

Mao Lingke, senior logistics adviser at Cainiao Global Supply Chain, said the pandemic has exposed the country's weak point in air cargo transportation.

China's airfreight sector has lagged behind some developed countries in building a business ecosystem for cargo flights, international airlines and airport facilities.

The pandemic has shown the strategic significance of airfreight in maintaining global supply chains, as these shipments involve high-value-added commodities such as biomedicines and high-tech instruments.

At a State Council meeting in March last year, the central government pledged a range of initiatives to strengthen international air freight capacity. The measures included policies aimed at encouraging aviation companies to buy or rent more cargo planes, relaxing restrictions on cargo airlines' operations, and establishing information sharing platforms among logistics companies.

Mao said the favorable policy environment would help Shenzhen airport unleash the great potential of its freight business, but he stressed the need for coordinated development with nearby counterparts in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Shenzhen airport has seen a higher growth rate for its cargo business than airports in Guangzhou, the Guangdong provincial capital, and Hong Kong, but its business volume still trails that of its counterparts in the other two cities.

Zhang, the Shenzhen airport cargo center manager, said some business had shifted from Hong Kong airport to Shenzhen during the pandemic.

A considerable volume of domestic goods used to be transported to Hong Kong airport via Shenzhen for export. However, due to the pandemic, restrictions imposed on cross-border cargo deliveries have resulted in some international airlines and express delivery companies, including DHL, diverting some of their business to Shenzhen airport, Zhang said.

Mao suggested that airports determine their strengths and coordinate planning of international routes and cooperation with airlines.

"If Shenzhen airport can make a head start in cold-chain deliveries, it should further upgrade its expertise and capacity in this area into a pivotal business," he said.

Mao also stressed the importance of further simplifying procedures to transfer goods among airports, especially between Hong Kong airport and those in the mainland.

He said it is vital to improve land routes connecting these airports, including opening more fast tracks for cargo transportation.