9
-
Ocean vessel and seaborne cargo statistics
In the fourth quarter of 1996, 10 788 ocean vessels with a total capacity of 47.3 million net registered tons entered Hong Kong, according to the statistics released today (Friday) by the Census and Statistics Department. Compared with the fourth quarter of 1995, the number of vessels increased by 1%, and capacity increased by 6%.
Net registered ton (NRT) is a unit measure in volume terms of the space of a vessel available for carrying passengers or goods. One NRT is equivalent to 100 cubic feet.
During the same period, there were 10 829 outgoing ocean vessels with a total capacity of 47.2 million net registered tons. Compared with the fourth quarter of 1995, there was little change in number but an increase of 5% in capacity.
In the fourth quarter of 1996, the total tonnage of seaborne inward cargo, comprising seaborne imports and seaborne inward transhipment, was estimated to be 23.2 million tonnes, representing an increase of 4% over the same quarter in 1995. Within this total, the tonnage of both seaborne imports and inward transhipment grew by 4%.
During the same period, the total tonnage of seaborne outward cargo, comprising seaborne exports (domestic exports plus re-exports) and seaborne outward transhipment, was estimated to be 10.5 million tonnes, representing an increase of 3% over the same quarter in 1995. The respective increases in the total tonnage of seaborne exports and seaborne outward transhipment were 4% and 2%.
Of the seaborne inward cargo, 82% in terms of tonnage were seaborne imports and 18% were seaborne inward transhipment. 56% of these cargoes were containerized.
Of the seaborne outward cargo, 58% in terms of tonnage were seaborne exports and 42% were seaborne outward transhipment. 85% of them were containerized cargo.
The above statistics are summarized in Table 1.
In the fourth quarter of 1996, the top five countries/territories of loading for seaborne inward cargo were Singapore (which accounted for 16% in tonnage terms), Japan (13%), Taiwan (12%), China (11%) and the U.S.A. (8%). The top five countries/territories of discharge for seaborne outward cargo were China (29%), the U.S.A. (19%), Taiwan (7%), Japan (6%) and Singapore (3%).