XN000022-1996-02-12 — Page 19

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Container throughput averages at one million per month

Hong Kong had handled more than 10 million twenty-foot-equivalent (TEU) container boxes in the first 10 months of 1995, averaging about one million TEUS a month, the Deputy Director of Marine, Mr S Y Tsui, said today (Monday).

Releasing the container statistics for October 1995, Mr Tsui said based on the trend from January to October last year, it was estimated that Hong Kong had probably handled more than 12 million TEUs in 1995.

"The figures underline the need for the further development of Hong Kong container facilities and also our capabilities to meet current demand,” he said.

The total container throughput from January to October last year was 10,414,737 TEUs, an increase at 13.6 per cent over the same period of 1994.

In the first 10 months of 1995, the operators at container terminals in Kwai Chung and Stonecutters Island had handled 6,892,414 TEUs, representing an increase of 14.1 per cent; the stream operators 2,433,055 TEUs, an increase of 2.8 per cent; and river trader operators 1,089,268 TEUS, a 43.4 per cent increase.

"With Government and private sectors putting together a number of measures to enhance the productivity at the container terminals and for the stream and river operations, our handling capability is expected to meet the demand up to 1998," Mr Tsui said.

He urged the consortiums involved in container terminal operation to reach an agreement over the berthing arrangements in Kwai Chung and on Stonecutter Island as early as possible.

"In line with Marine Department's objective to better serve the community, the monthly figures on container throughput compiled by the department are now available at the department's homepage on the Internet." Mr Tsui said.

The address for Marine Department homepage on

the Internet is

http://www.info.gov.hk/mardep/