Total cargo up 1.8% to 263.3 million tonnes in 2019

But exports dropped 24% to 6.3 million in Q4 2019.

The total number of cargo that passed through Hong Kong in 2019 rose 1.8% YoY to 263.3 million tonnes compared to the 170.9 million tonnes recorded the previous year, according to data from the Census & Statistics Department (C&SD).

Inward port cargo for the whole year edged up by 7.2% YoY compared with the whole year of 2018 to 170.9 million tonnes, whilst outward port cargo declined by 6.7% YoY to 92.4 million tonnes.

For Q4 2019, total port cargo throughput jumped 4.2% YoY to 67.8 million tonnes compared to Q4 2018. Within this total, inward port cargo rose 14.5% YoY to 45.8 million tonnes, whilst outward port cargo dropped 12.3% YoY to 22 million tonnes compared to over a year earlier.

On a seasonally adjusted quarter-to-quarter comparison, total port cargo throughput decreased by 2.1 QoQ in the fourth quarter of 2019. Within this total, inward port cargo increased by 1.7% QoQ compared to Q3 2019 whilst outward port cargo declined by 9.1% QoQ.

Within port cargo, seaborne and river cargo increased by 1.7% YoY and 8.4% YoY in the Q4 2019 compared with Q4 2018 to 41.9 million tonnes and 25.9 million tonnes, respectively.

Within inward port cargo, imports increased by 27.9% YoY to 20 million tonnes in the Q4 2019, whilst inward transhipment decreased by 3% YoY to 16.8 million tonnes. For outward port cargo, exports (including domestic exports and re-exports) and outward transhipment dropped by 24% and 6.5% in the fourth quarter of 2019 compared with the fourth quarter of 2018 to 6.3 million tonnes and 15.7 million tonnes, respectively.

For Q4 2019, double-digit increases were recorded in the tonnage of inward port cargo loaded in Taiwan (+67.6%), Indonesia (+57.3%), Vietnam (+34.3%), the mainland of China (+23.2%) and Malaysia (+22.3%).

On the other hand, double-digit decreases were recorded in the tonnage of inward port cargo loaded in Singapore (-27.9%), the United States of America (-24.4%), Japan (-12.5%) and Thailand (-10.1%).

Comparing the whole year of 2019 with the whole year of 2018, double-digit increases were recorded in the tonnage of inward port cargo loaded in Taiwan (+48.7%), Malaysia (+17.3%), Vietnam (+13.4%) and the mainland of China (+13.2%).

In contrast, double-digit decreases were recorded in the tonnage of inward port cargo loaded in the United States of America (-19.0%), Japan (-17.0%) and Indonesia (-14.3%). For outward port cargo, triple-digit increase was recorded in the tonnage of outward port cargo discharged in Macao (+119.0%). On the other hand, double-digit decreases were recorded in the tonnage of outward port cargo discharged in Vietnam (-21.3%), the United States of America (-16.7%) and Japan (-10.3%).