XN000022-1987-05-07 — Page 8

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THURSDAY, MAY 7, 1987

IN THE FOURTH QUARTER OF 1986, THERE WERE 3 672 OUTGOING SHIPS WITH A TOTAL CAPACITY OF 22.1 MILLION NRT, REPRESENTING AN INCREASE OF 288 (OR 9 PER CENT) IN NUMBER AND OF 8 PER CENT IN CAPACITY OVER THE FOURTH QUARTER OF 1985.

THE TOTAL TONNAGE OF CARGO LOADED ONTO OUTGOING SHIPS (ESTIMATED FROM A SAMPLE OF MANIFEST CONSIGNMENTS) ROSE BY 24 PER CENT. ABOUT 65 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 WAS IMPORTS AND 14 PER CENT WAS TRANSHIPMENT CARGO. OF THE CARGO LOADED ONTO OUTGOING SHIPS, 59 PER CENT WAS EXPORTS (INCLUDING DOMESTIC EXPORTS AND RE-EXPORTS) AND 41 PER CENT WAS TRANSHIPMENT CARGO.

THE MAJOR COUNTRIES OF LOADING FOR SEABORNE IMPORTS IN TONNAGE TERMS WERE SINGAPORE (17 PER CENT), CHINA (14 PER CENT), JAPAN (14 PER CENT), AUSTRALIA (10 PER CENT) AND TAIWAN (9 PER CENT), WHILE THE MAJOR COUNTRIES OF DISCHARGE FOR SEABORNE EXPORTS WERE THE U.S. (20 PER CENT), CHINA (15 PER CENT), TAIWAN (11 PER CENT) AND JAPAN (6 PER CENT).

TRANSHIPMENT CARGO WAS MAINLY LOADED IN CHINA (32 PER CENT) AND U.S. (15 PER CENT); AND WAS MAINLY DISCHARGED IN CHINA (15 PER CENT) AND U.S. (12 PER CENT).

COMPARING THE FOURTH QUARTER OF 1986 WITH THE SAME QUARTER OF 1985, INCREASES IN TONNAGE WERE NOTED FOR IMPORTS FROM THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA (+93 PER CENT), SINGAPORE (+58 PER CENT) AUSTRALIA (+52 PER CENT), CHINA +46 PER CENT) AND TAIWAN (+29 PER CENT); BUT A DECREASE IN TONNAGE WAS NOTED FOR IMPORTS FROM JAPAN (-7 PER CENT). AS A WHOLE, THE TOTAL TONNAGE OF IMPORTS ROSE BY 24 PER CENT.

AMONG THE PRINCIPAL COMMODITIES, INCREASES IN CARGO TONNAGE WERE RECORDED FOR THE IMPORTS OF ARTIFICIAL RESINS AND PLASTIC MATERIALS (+101 PER CENT), TEXTILES OF MAN-MADE FIBRES (+65 PER CENT) AND PETROLEUM, PETROLEUM PRODCTS AND RELATED MATERIALS (+58 PER CENT) BUT A DECREASE WAS RECORDED FOR THE IMPORTS OF TEXTILE YARN AND THREAD, ALL KINDS (-15 PER CENT).

DURING THE FOURTH QUARTER OF 1986, THE TOTAL TONNAGE OF SEABORNE EXPORTS (DOMESTIC EXPORTS PLUS RE-EXPORTS) INCREASED BY 32 PER CENT, INCREASES IN TONNAGE WERE RECORDED FOR SEABORNE EXPORTS TO THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA (+129 PER CENT), THE PHILIPPINES (+63 PER CENT) AND THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY (+40 PER CENT).

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