Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals (HACTL) handled record air cargo throughput last year, driven by buoyant demand for goods from Europe and the United States, and the growth momentum looks set to continue into 2005.

Air cargo throughput for 2004 totalled 2.3 million tonnes, up 12.6 percent from the previous year, said HACTL, 25 percent-owned by Jardine Matheson and 20 percent by Swire Pacific, in a statement on Friday.

In December alone, HACTL handled 200,640 tonnes of air cargo, up 6.8 percent from the year-ago period.

"Export growth from the Pearl River Delta to Europe and the United States was the main driver, while import and trans-shipment cargoes continued to grow," HACTL's marketing director Warren Bishop said in a statement.

"For 2005, we expect export growth to continue although macroeconomic factors will govern the strength of growth."