Cargo throughput at HK ports down 5.3% in 2020

The result for the fourth quarter of 2020 declined by 9.5%

Total port cargo throughput in 2020 declined 5.3% to 249.3m tonnes, the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) reported.

Of this number, 169.9m tonnes were inward port cargo, whilst 79.4m were outward port cargo. Both figures show a decrease of 0.6% and 14.1%, respectively, compared with its 2019 level.

For the fourth quarter of 2020, total port cargo throughput recorded 61.3m tonnes, a 9.5% slip from the same period in the previous year. Inward port cargo for the quarter decreased by 11.9% to 40.3m tonnes, whereas outward port cargo decreased 4.6% to 21m tonnes.On a seasonally adjusted quarter-to-quarter comparison, total port cargo throughput decreased 6.5%.

Within Port cargo, seaborne and river cargo was down 12.1% to 36.9m tonnes and 5.3% to 24.5m, respectively, in the fourth quarter compared to the same quarter in 2019.

Main territories of loading inward port cargo are Japan, which recorded a double-digit increase of 20% in the tonnage of inward port in the fourth quarter. Indonesia, Taiwan, and the United States all decreased 60%, 31.2% and 30.1%, respectively.

Outward port cargo main destinations are Taiwan (+16.4%), Macao (+12.3%) and Malaysia (+11.3%), Thailand (-33.0%), Philippines (-21.8%), Vietnam (-20.0%), and Korea (-16.1%).

For the entire year of 2020, the tonnage of inward port cargo loaded in Taiwan increased 38.6%, whilst decreases were recorded in Indonesia (-37.3%), United States (-25.4%), and Singapore (-18.5%).

For outward port cargo, the tonnage of outward port cargo discharged in Taiwan increased 10.5%, but decreased in Vietnam (-21.5%), Mainland of China (-16.2%), United States (-15.2%), Malaysia (-15.1%), Thailand (-15.1%), Japan (-14.3%), and Philippines (-10.7%).