Airport in Okinawa aims for role as logistics hub in Asia
Naha airport in Okinawa Prefecture is striving to strengthen its functions to become a new logistics hub in Asia and prepare for expanding trade expected under the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal.
The airport in the capital city of Japan’s southernmost prefecture shifted into business mode one day in late June at around 1am with the arrival of a freighter of ANA Cargo Inc.
The cargo was moved from the vessel to the sorting station of the parcel delivery service provider Yamato Transport Co in the freight terminal building, and then grouped in accordance with the final destinations such as Singapore and Hong Kong.
The building also has a cold warehouse with inside temperatures kept below 10 degrees Celsius, as well as facilities for quarantine and other customs procedures.
Cargo handling peaked at around 3am as planes arrived from Narita, Haneda and two other domestic airports, as well as eight airports in other parts of Asia such as Taipei and Hong Kong. At about 5am, aircraft left for Hong Kong, Taipei, Bangkok and other destinations.
The system at Naha airport in Tokyo makes it possible to deliver, for instance, marine products caught off Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido to Hong Kong in the afternoon of the following day.
“We couldn’t have even imagined [the current operation] 20 years ago,” said Yasuhiro Kuwata, chief controller at the Okinawa office of ANA Cargo.
A cargo transport network between Japan and other Asian economies, with Naha airport at the centre, was created in 2009 and covers most major cities in Asia within a range of fourhour flights.
The network, called the Okinawa International Logistics Hub, increased the volume of freight handled at the airport to 174,000 tonnes in 2015, up 190 times from 935 tonnes in 2008 and the fourth largest among airports in Japan after Narita, Kansai International and Haneda. To address increasing cargo traffic, Naha airport is building a second, 2,700-metre runway.
Naha airport is more than a mere relay station. The International Logistics Centre, adjacent to it, keeps in stock some 130,000 parts of around 4,000 kinds for precision instruments ready for shipment around the clock. The centre is planned to be capable of repairing and processing such parts in the future, Kuwata said.
The airport is gaining a foothold as an international logistics hub against the backdrop of major changes in the pattern of trade, from conventional imports of materials and exports of products to cross-border division of labour to meet a variety of conditions — such as low labour costs, easy access to materials and parts, and closeness to markets.
To address the globalisation of supply chains, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), signed in February to create a free trade zone covering 40% of the global economy, calls for expeditious logistics, such as approval to release imported goods within 48 hours of arrival for normal shipments and within six hours in the case of express shipments.
Smooth logistics may bring international trade enough benefits to overcome the adverse effects of currency fluctuations and increase export opportunities not only for manufacturers but also for agricultural, forestry and fishery concerns.
Mie Prefecture in central Japan introuced a subsidy programme last year in cooperation with ANA Cargo and Yamato Transport to cover up to 50% of costs for transport of goods, produced in the prefecture, to Naha airport for exports.
The programme is a boon for local businesses that had been cautious about exporting their products, said Eikei Suzuki, the governor of Mie.
Prices of pork and beef may be lowered under the TPP, and that could make fish look relatively expensive, said Takuya Tamamoto, managing director of Owase Bussan Corp, which farms Japanese amberjack in Owase Bay in the prefecture. But “we may have more export markets”, he added.
Owase Bussan is set to begin exporting the fish to Hong Kong in earnest in August through the Okinawa International Logistics Hub.