I would have a bet that Manchester actively dis-courages freight in favour of forwarders trucking it to EMA and Stansted. Notice how Emirates has been rumoured to be starting a freight only service. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if it doesn't happen here but does at EMA!
It appears that our freight stands are required for just parking aircraft and remote ops., because others are taken up with CARS !! (My real pet HATE!!)
I suspect it's a conspiracy theory to which some of us would also subscribe.
And weren't we supposed to be getting a DHL flight and possibly more Fed-ex?