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"We are co-operating closely with the banking community to develop by 1996 one of the most modern real-time gross settlement systems in the world," Sir Hamish added.

He concluded that all these impressive achievements also needed a well trained, educated and motivated workforce who had the expertise to meet changing market

needs.

End/Friday, May 5 1995

Vessels and cargo statistics for the 4th quarter of 1994

In the fourth quarter of 1994, 9,587 ocean vessels with a total capacity of 41.7 million net registered tons (being a unit of measure in volume terms of the space of a vessel available for carrying passengers or goods, one net registered ton equals 100 cubic feet) arrived at Hong Kong.

This information is contained in the report entitled "Hong Kong Shipping Statistics, October-December 1994" published today by the Census and Statistics Department.

The figures reflected an increase of 15% in number of vessels and 9% in capacity over the fourth quarter of 1993.

During the same period, there were 9,622 outgoing ocean vessels with a total capacity of 41.8 million net registered tons, representing an increase of 13% in number and 7% in capacity over the fourth quarter of 1993.

In the fourth quarter of 1994, the total tonnage of seaborne inward cargo comprising seaborne imports and seaborne inward transhipment, was estimated to be 19.6 Million tonnes, representing an increase of 12% over the same quarter in 1993.

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 9.4 Million tonnes, representing an increase of 20%.

Of the seaborne inward cargo, 82% in terms of tonnage were seaborne imports and 18% were seaborne inward transhipment. 54% of these cargoes were

containerised.