XN000022-1987-02-06 — Page 14

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1987

THE NUMBER OF SHIPS WITH A CAPACITY OF LESS THAN 10 000 DWT (DEADWEIGHT TONS) INCREASED (+5).

IN THE THIRD QUARTER OF 1986, THERE WERE 3 478 OUTGOING SHIPS WITH A TOTAL CAPACITY OF 21.1 MILLION NRT, REPRESENTING AN INCREASE OF 146 (OR 4 PER CENT) IN NUMBER AND OF 8 PER CENT IN CAPACITY OVER THE THIRD QUARTER OF 1985.

THE TOTAL TONNAGE OF CARGO LOADED ONTO OUTGOING SHIPS (ESTIMATED FROM A SAMPLE OF MANIFEST CONSIGNMENTS) ROSE BY 23 PER CENT. ABOUT 60 PER CENT OF THE DEPARTING SHIPS STAYED IN HONG KONG FOR LESS THAN TWO DAYS.

OF THE CARGO DISCHARGED FROM INCOMING SHIPS, 86 PER CENT IN TERMS OF TONNAGE REPRESENTED IMPORTS AND 14 PER CENT WAS TRANS HIPMENT CARGO. OF THE CARGO LOADED ON TO OUTGOING SHIPS, 58 PER CENT REPRESENTED EXPORTS (INCLUDING DOMESTIC EXPORTS AND RE-EXPORTS) AND 42 PER CENT WAS TRANS HIPMENT CARGO.

THE MAJOR COUNTRIES OF LOADING FOR SEABORNE IMPORTS IN TONNAGE TERMS WERE SINGAPORE (18 PER CENT), CHINA (12 PER CENT), JAPAN (11 PER CENT), AUSTRALIA (10 PER CENT), THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA (10 PER CENT) AND TAIWAN (8 PER CENT), WHILE THE MAJOR COUNTRIES OF DISCHARGE FOR SEABORNE EXPORTS WERE THE U.S.A. (20 PER CENT), CHINA (17 PER CENT), TAIWAN (12 PER CENT) AND SINGAPORE (7 PER CENT).

TRANS HIPMENT CARGO WAS MAINLY LOADED IN CHINA (32 PER CENT) AND THE U.S.A. (19 PER CENT), AND WAS ALSO MAINLY DISCHARGED IN CHINA (13 PER CENT) AND THE U.S.A. (13 PER CENT).

COMPARING THE THIRD QUARTER OF 1986 WITH THE SAME QUARTER OF 1985, INCREASES IN TONNAGE WERE NOTED FOR IMPORTS FROM CHINA (+58 PER CENT), SINGAPORE (+39 PER CENT), AUSTRALIA (+35 PER CENT) AND TAIWAN (+10 PER CENT) BUT A DECREASE IN TONNAGE WAS NOTED FOR IMPORTS FROM JAPAN (-21 PER CENT).

AS A WHOLE, THE TOTAL TONNAGE OF IMPORTS ROSE BY 18 PER CENT. AMONG THE PRINCIPAL COMMODITIES, INCREASES IN CARGO TONNAGE WERE RECORDED FOR THE IMPORTS OF ORGANIC CHEMICALS (+72 PER CENT), CHEMICAL MATERIALS AND PRODUCTS, N.E.S. (+67 PER CENT), MISCELLANEOUS EDIBLE PRODUCTS AND PREPARATIONS (+64 PER CENT), ARTIFICIAL RESINS AND PLASTIC MATERIALS (+64 PER CENT), INORGANIC CHEMICALS (+53 PER CENT) AND TEXTILE FIBRES (+46 PER CENT), BUT A DECREASE WAS RECORDED FOR THE IMPORTS OF IRON AND STEEL (-15 PER CENT).

DURING THE THIRD QUARTER OF 1986, THE TOTAL TONNAGE OF SEABORNE EXPORTS (DOMESTIC EXPORTS PLUS RE-EXPORTS) INCREASED BY 29 PER CENT. INCREASES IN TONNAGE WERE RECORDED FOR SEABORNE EXPORTS TO SINGAPORE (+64 PER CENT), TAIWAN (+35 PER CENT) AND THE U.S.A. (+23 PER CENT).

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