China Southern Cargo triumphs Hactl forklift and pallet building contest

January 23, 2018: A team from China Southern Cargo recently won this year's Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals (HACTL) International Forklift and Pallet Building Competition. The contest, now in its eleventh year, attracted entrants from all over the world.

According to reports, teams from Air Canada Cargo, Air China Cargo, Air France Cargo, China Southern Cargo, IAG Cargo, Japan Airlines, KLM, MAB Kargo, Nippon Cargo Airlines and SF Airlines vied for the four awards.

This year, the layout of the competition courts was made tighter and more complex, placing additional demands on forklift drivers to manouevre safely, while successfully collecting cargo in the correct order for the pallet building element.

The pallet building competition, was made more challenging with the introduction of a 125 x 88 inch pallet, which was to be loaded with cargo configured with two upper surface contours.

Team work was the key to success, with the need for strategic planning and close coordination between forklift drivers and pallet builders.

The importance of the teams' collective efforts was reflected in the award of the title Overall Champion, being the team with the lowest total point deduction in the combined forklift and pallet building elements.

China Southern Cargo won the overall champion award (runner up Japan Airlines). The forklift competition was won by Japan Airlines (second place went to China Southern Cargo), the pallet building competition by China Southern Cargo (Japan Airlines came second), while the forklift driving safety award went to Japan Airlines.

In line with other recent HACTL events, the competition promoted aspects of Hong Kong%u2014on this occasion, through the use of scenic backdrops, and the inclusion of a performance by the Hong Kong Rope Skipping Club team, which broke the World Record at the 2016 World Championships in Sweden, with 671.5 jumps in three minutes, in the double-Dutch 4×45-seconds category. Pursuing its constant theme of recycling and sustainability, Hactl also entertained guests with a local band playing guitars made of recycled wine cases!

Amy Lam, finance director of HACTL said: "It's our eleventh year of holding this competition. As always, we used it to foster professionalism and safety in the industry, but we also wanted to promote sustainability and corporate social responsibility. That's why we blended green themes with supporting our local artistes and our champions. We care about all these things and have ambitious plans and targets for the future."