Hong Kong’s 2006 total port cargo throughput grew 4% compared to a year earlier to 238.2 million tones, according to the Census and Statistics Department.

Within this total, inward port cargo recorded virtually no change at 141.5 million tonnes, while outward port cargo rose 8% to 96.7 million tonnes.

For port cargo, seabourne cargo grew 3% to 166.2 million tonnes while river cargo rose 5% to 72 million tonnes.

In 2006, the port of Hong Kong handled 23.5 million TEUs of containers, representing a 4% increase compared to 2005. Within this total, laden and empty containers went up by 5% and 1% to 19.3 million TEUs and 4.2 million TEUs respectively. For laden containers, inward and outward containers rose 4% and 5% to 9.4 million TEUs and 10.0 million TEUs respectively.

The number of ocean vessel arrivals recorded in 2006 was 39,020, virtually the same compared to 2005, with the total capacity up 7% to 346.6 million net registered tons. Over the same period, the number of river vessel arrivals reached 191,940, also virtually no change from 2005, with the total capacity up 9% to 109.8 million net registered tons.