Faced with a huge outcry from shops, restaurants, industries and airlines over cargo chaos at its new airport, Hong Kong has had to swallow its pride and turn to neighbouring mainland China and Macau for help in flying in supplies to meet the needs of its six million population.
The cost of the botched operations at the airport is now put at HK$1 billion (about £800 million), with a huge price to pay in loss of world-wide reputation by a trading economy which prided itself as possessing Asia's most important transportation hub. Compounding the scandal, 12 people were arrested yesterday on charges of corruption in the supply of materials for a new high-speed rail line connecting the airport at Chek Lap Kok with the centre of Hong Kong.
Criticism has been mounting in Hong Kong over the near-invisibility of the Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee-hwa, during the crisis. So too have suspicions that there is a political scandal brewing.
Three separate inquires are now under way. Legislators are asking angrily if the opening of the airport was rushed to allow the ceremony to be performed by President Jiang Zemin on the first anniversary of the return of Hong Kong to China this month.
Yesterday Hong Kong asked permission to divert cargo planes to the Chinese city of Shenzhen so that fresh food and other urgent cargo can be trucked into Hong Kong. The territory usually handles 5,000 tonnes of air cargo a day.
A significant portion is fresh produce and seafood to supply restaurants and markets: many consignments have rotted in hangars. Several airlines have already switched to the tiny Portuguese colony of Macau a few dozen miles to the south.
Since the HK$20 billion state-of-the-art airport opened for business on July 7th, computer problems have forced the main cargo handler, Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Ltd, to suspend most imports and exports until July 18th. Cargo at the new terminal is being trucked back to the old Kai Tak airport for storage and distribution.
Shortcomings at the airport affecting passengers have included blocked toilets, stalled escalators, badly-stocked restaurants, inadequate signposting, blank information boards and lost luggage.
However, Mr Clinton Leeks, corporate development director of the Hong Kong Airport Authority, said yesterday that facilities had vastly improved and passengers were waiting only 15 to 20 minutes for luggage.
"It is bearing fruit," he said of efforts to overcome the problems. "As at yesterday evening, we now have 90 per cent of arriving flights arriving within half an hour of their scheduled time and 98 per cent of scheduled flights leaving within half an hour of departure time."
Meanwhile airlines are counting the cost. The temporary ban on air cargo could lose Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific Airways at least US$20 million (£14.4 million) in earnings, enough to push the airline into the red this year, according to a spokesman. Air Canada is losing almost $50,000 per round trip in lost revenues.