Freight traffic at the Hong Kong International Airport recorded a double-digit growth on the heels of a strong global growth for January 2006. According to IATA, January's international freight traffic growth of 5.3% was a recovery from the 3.2% total 2005 traffic growth of international freight. Asia Pacific led the recovery in freight growth for January 2005, at 8.3%, up from its 4.2% total 2005 growth, boosted by strong growth in Chinese trade and a recovering Japanese economy, according to IATA. In Hong Kong, a total of 225,000 cargo tonnes were handled in February, 10% over the same period last year. There were 2,685 freight aircraft movements in Feb 2006, 11.2% more than in Feb 2005. Meanwhile, since Feb 2005, some 3.5mn tonnes of cargo have passed through the Hong Kong International Airport, at a rise of 10.3%. Of these, 1.3mn tonnes was unloaded and 2.2mn tonnes loaded. At the Hong Kong seaport, 1.523mn TEUs passed through in February 2006, a rise of 6.7% over the same month last year. Less than a million TEUs-only 983,000 TEUs, were handled at the Kwai Chung-Tsing container terminals, at a -1.5% growth. The rest of the sea cargo passed through the stream and other berths, pointing to a healthier transhipment trade in the month of February. There was a 69.5% rise in cargo handled by ocean vessels in the mid-stream. Cumulatively, since the beginning of the year to February, 3.5% more ocean cargo were handled at the Hong Kong port than in the same period in 2005. For the two months of 2006, 3.44mn TEUs in total have been handled at the port. Meanwhile, the Shenzhen ports handled 1.056mn TEUs in February, at an 8.4% rise. For Jan-Feb 2006, 2.6mn TEUs in total have been handled at the Shenzhen ports, 11.7% more than the same period in 2005.