XN000022-1985-05-03 — Page 6

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FRIDAY, MAY 3, 1985

IN THE FOURTH QUARTER OF 1984, THERE WERE 2 986 DEPARTING SHIPS, WITH A TOTAL CAPACITY OF 17.6 MILLION NRT, REPRESENTING AN INCREASE OF 64 IN NUMBER BUT OF ONLY 0.02 PER CENT IN CAPACITY OVER THE SAME QUARTER IN 1983. THE TOTAL TONNAGE OF CARGO LOADED ONTO OUTGOING SHIPS ROSE BY NINE PER CENT, AND THE NUMBER OF CONTAINERS (MEASURED IN TEUS) LOADED IN HONG KONG ALSO ROSE, BY 14 PER CENT. ABOUT 67 PER CENT OF THE DEPARTING VESSELS HAD STAYED IN HONG KONG FOR LESS THAN TWO DAYS.

BASED ON INFORMATION EXTRACTED FROM OCEAN CARGO MANIFEST, 87 PER CENT IN TERMS OF GROSS WEIGHT OF THE INWARD SEABORNE CARGO WAS IMPORTS AND 13 PER CENT WAS FOR TRANSHIPMENT. OF THE OUTWARD SEABORNE CARGO, 57 PER CENT WAS EXPORTS (INCLUDING RE-EXPORTS) AND 43 PER CENT WAS FOR TRANSHIPMENT. THE MAJOR COUNTRIES OF LOADING FOR SEABORNE IMPORTS WERE JAPAN (20 PER CENT IN TERMS OF GROSS WEIGHT), SINGAPORE (14 PER CENT) AND CHINA (11 PER CENT), AND THE MAJOR COUNTRIES OF DISCHARGE FOR SEABORNE EXPORTS WERE THE U.S.A. (22 PER CENT), CHINA (13 PER CENT) AND TAIWAN (13 PER CENT). TRANSHIPMENT CARGO WAS MAINLY LOADED FROM THE U.S.A. (28 PER CENT) AND CHINA (24 PER CENT), AND TRANSHIPPED TO THE U.S.A. (16 PER CENT) AND CHINA (15 PER CENT).

COMPARING THE FOURTH QUARTER OF 1984 WITH THE SAME QUARTER OF 1983, THERE WAS A SLIGHT DECREASE IN THE TOTAL TONNAGE OF SEABORNÉ IMPORTS (-9 PER CENT), LARGELY DUE TO DECREASES IN IMPORTS FROM THE MAJOR COUNTRIES OF LOADING (-20 PER CENT FOR JAPAN, -28 PER CENT FOR SINGAPORE AND -34 PER CENT FOR CHINA). THERE WERE, HOWEVER, SIGNIFICANT INCREASES IN THE TONNAGE OF SEABORNE IMPORTS FROM THE U.S.A. (+68 PER CENT) AND THE PHILIPPINES (+42 PER CENT). AMONG THE PRINCIPAL COMMODITIES, CONSIDERABLE INCREASES IN TONNAGE WERE RECORDED IN THE IMPORTS OF OTHER ROAD VEHICLES AND ACCESSORIES (+128 PER CENT), ARTIFICIAL RESINS AND PLASTIC MATERIALS AND CELLULOSE ESTERS AND ETHERS (+30 PER CENT), CORK AND WOOD MANUFACTURES (EXCLUDING FURNITURE) (+28 PER CENT).

OVER THE SAME PERIOD, SEABORNE EXPORTS TO MOST COUNTRIES DECLINED IN TERMS OF TONNAGE, WITH THE MAIN DECREASES RECORDED FOR EXPORTS TO THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA (-21 PER CENT), JAPAN (-20 PER CENT) AND SINGAPORE (-18 PER CENT). HOWEVER, INCREASES WERE REGISTERED FOR EXPORTS TO CHINA (+38 PER CENT) THE U.S.A. (+8 PER CENT) AND THAILAND (+3 PER CENT). AMONG THE PRINCIPAL COMMODITIES, DECREASES IN TONNAGE WERE RECORDED IN THE EXPORT OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS AND RELATED MATERIALS (-60 PER CENT) AND CHEMICAL MATERIALS AND PRODUCTS, N.E.S. (-25 PER CENT), WHILE INCREASES WERE RECORDED IN THE EXPORT OF MISCELLANEOUS MANUFACTURED ARTICLES, N.E.S. (+36 PER CENT), TOYS (+34 PER CENT), AND VEGETABLES AND FRUITS (+27 PER CENT).

/SHIPPING STATISTICS