XN000022-1996-10-25 — Page 12

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Statistics on ocean vessel and seaborne cargo

In the second quarter of 1996, 9,919 ocean vessels with a total capacity of 45.5 million net registered tons entered Hong Kong, according to the statistics released today by the Census and Statistics Department. Compared with the second quarter of 1995, number of vessels decreased by 6%, while capacity increased by 5%.

Net registered ton (NRT) is a unit of measure in volume terms of the space of a vessel available for carrying passengers or goods. One NRT is equivalent to 100 cubic feet.

During the same period, there were 9,909 outgoing ocean vessels with a total capacity of 45.4 million net registered tons, representing a decrease of 7% in number and an increase of 4% in capacity over the second quarter of 1995.

In the second quarter of 1996, the total tonnage of seaborne inward cargo, comprising seaborne imports and seaborne inward transhipment, was estimated to be 21.5 million tonnes, representing a decrease of 9% over the same quarter in 1995.

Within this total, the tonnage of seaborne imports fell by 8%, while that of seaborne inward transhipment by 18%.

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 9.3 million tonnes, representing a decrease of 10% over the same quarter in 1995.

The respective declines in the total tonnage of seaborne exports and seaborne outward transhipment were 7% and 15%.

Of the seaborne inward cargo, 84% in terms of tonnage were seaborne imports and 16% were seabome inward transhipment. 55% of these cargoes were

containerised.

Of the seaborne outward cargo, 59% in terms of tonnage were seaborne exports and 41% were seaborne outward transhipment. 87% of them were containerised cargo.

The above statistics are summarised in Table 1.

In the second quarter of 1996, the top five countries of loading for seaborne inward cargo were Singapore (which accounted for 16% in tonnage terms), Japan (13%), China (11%), Taiwan (10%) and the USA (9%). The top five countries of discharge for seaborne outward cargo were China (25%), the USA (20%), Taiwan (7%), Japan (6%) and the Federal Republic of Germany (5%).