The first quarter saw the total port cargo throughput fall to 52.2 million tons, down 17 percent over a year earlier, the Census and Statistics Department of Hong Kong announced Friday.

Within this total, inward port cargo dropped 16 percent to 30.4 million tons and outward port cargo fell 17 percent, to 21.8 million tons.

On a seasonally adjusted quarter-to-quarter comparison, the total port cargo throughput fell 10 percent in the first quarter. Within this, inward port cargo fell 9 percent and outward port cargo dropped 11 percent.

Seaborne cargo fell 23 percent to 34.7 million tons on the same period last year, while river cargo fell 1 percent to 17.4 million tons.

Imports and inward transshipment fell 10 percent to 17.2 million tons and 23 percent to 13.2 million tons in the first quarter, respectively. Exports and outward transshipment also fell 6 percent to 8.8 million tons and 23 percent to 13 million tons, respectively.

In the first quarter, the number of ocean vessel arrivals dropped 21 percent to 7,520, with the total capacity falling 5 percent to 94.5 million net registered tons. The number of river vessel arrivals dipped 11 percent to 41,340, with the total capacity falling 9 percent to 22.7 million net registered tons.

Source: Xinhua