Hundreds of passengers were delayed on Tuesday as a broken-down B747 freight aircraft blocked the runway at Hong Kong. The aircraft was eventually towed off the runway. Hong Kong is on of the busiest airports in the world; cargo volumes grew 17% in August. This was mainly due to the strong growth in exports, which increased 29% year on year. The most important export markets were Europe and the USA, but all major trading partners recorded double digit growth. Imports in August increased 12% over the previous year.