Total port cargo down 2.7% in Q2

It was dragged down by a 20% decrease in outward port cargo.

Total port cargo throughput decreased by 2.7% to 67.5 million tonnes in Q2 compared to the same quarter in 2019, according to data from the Census & Statistics Department. Within this, inward port cargo increased by 7.2% YoY to 47.7 million tonnes, whilst outward port cargo decreased by 20.4% YoY to 19.8 million tonnes.

For the first half of 2020, total port cargo throughput declined by 2.9% YoY to 124.6 million tonnes compared to H1 2019. Of this, inward port cargo rose by 6.4% YoY to 86.7 million tonnes, whilst outward port cargo dropped by 19.1% YoY to 37.9 million tonnes.

Within port cargo, seaborne cargo fell by 7.2% YoY to 39.3 million tonnes in Q2 compared to the same period a year earlier, whilst river cargo increased by 4.4% YoY to 28.2 million tonnes.

Within inward port cargo, imports jumped by 13.1% to 31.6 million tonnes, whilst inward transhipment fell by 2.7% to 16.1 million tonnes in the second quarter.

For outward port cargo, exports and outward transhipment shrunk by 47.3% YoY and 4.9% YoY, respectively, to 4.8 million tonnes and 15 million tonnes.

In H1, seaborne cargo decreased by 5.9% YoY to 74.9 million tonnes, whilst river cargo rose by 2% to 49.7 million tonnes.

Meanwhile, imports increased by 12.7% YoY to 56 million tonnes in Q2, whilst inward transhipment slid by 3.4% YoY 30.6 million tonnes. For outward port cargo, exports and outward transhipment decreased by 44.1% and 6% to 9.0 million tonnes and 28.9 million tonnes, respectively.

Double-digit increases were recorded in the tonnage of inward port cargo loaded in Taiwan (+86.9%), the mainland of China (+19.6%), Vietnam (+16.4%), Korea (+15.5%) and Thailand (+11.5%).

On the other hand, double-digit decreases were recorded in the tonnage of inward port cargo loaded in Indonesia (-36.5%) and the United States of America (-13.9%).

For outward port cargo, double-digit increase was recorded in the tonnage of outward port cargo discharged in Taiwan (+11.6%).

In contrast, double-digit decreases were recorded in the tonnage of outward port cargo discharged in Malaysia (-27.2%), Vietnam (-23.9%), the mainland of China (-23.8%), Japan (-23.1%), the United States of America (-19.3%), Thailand (-12.0%) and the Philippines (-10.2%).