Hong Kong’s box throughput up 9% in third quarter

Hong Kong’s box throughput up 9% in third quarter The port of Hong Kong handled 5.8 million TEUs in the third quarter, an increase of 9 percent compared to a year earlier.
   The number of laden containers rose 9 percent to 4.6 million TEUs during the quarter, while empty containers grew 10 percent to 1.2 million TEUs.
   The number of ocean vessel arrivals in the third quarter fell 1 percent to 8,860, with the ship capacity for this segment remaining virtually unchanged at 76.3 million net registered metric tons. By contrast, the number of river vessel arrivals rose 6 percent to 48,430, with the capacity rising 9 percent to 23.5 million net registered metric tons.
   In the first nine months of 2004, Hong Kong port handled 16.4 million TEUs, also up 9 percent when compared to a year earlier.
   Total port cargo traffic increased 9 percent to 165.9 million metric tons in the latest nine-month period, compared to the same period in 2003. Within this total, inward port cargo rose 8 percent to 102.2 million metric tons, while outward port cargo grew 10 percent to 63.7 million metric tons.
   Hong Kong is the world’s largest container port, although its rate of growth is only about one-third of its competitors in mainland China.