Cargo throughput at Hong Kong International Airport in 2006 hit 3.58 million tons, representing an increase of 1.51 million tons, or 72.95 percent, compared with 2001, according to government statistics.

"Hong Kong retains air cargo handling crown," Hong Kong's Information Service Department said on its website, citing statistics from the October issue of the Hong Kong Monthly Digest of Statistics published by the Census and Statistics Department.

The Hong Kong special administrative region government attributed the growth to a rise in outward air cargo, which surged 1.1 million tons to 2.28 million tons, while inward air cargo grew by 406,000 tons to 1.3 million tons in the same five-year period.

(Xinhua News Agency October 23, 2007)