On a seasonally adjusted quarter-to-quarter comparison, total port cargo throughput increased by 4% in the first quarter of 2008. Within this total, inward and outward port cargo rose by 2% and 7% respectively. The seasonally adjusted series enables more meaningful shorter-term comparison to be made for discerning possible variations in trends.
Within port cargo, seaborne and river cargo grew by 15% and 12% compared to a year earlier to 45.0 million tons and 17.6 million tons respectively in the first quarter of 2008.
Within inward port cargo, imports and inward transshipment increased by 10% and 14% over a year earlier to 19.1 million tons and 17.1 million tons in the first quarter of 2008. For outward port cargo, exports (including domestic exports and re-exports) and outward transshipment went up by 22% and 14% over a year earlier to 9.3 million tons and 17.0 million tons respectively.
In the first quarter of 2008, the port of Hong Kong handled 5.8 million teus of containers, representing an increase of seven percent compared to a year earlier. Within this total, laden containers rose by 8% to 4.8 million teus, while empty containers recorded virtually no change to 0.9 million teus. Among laden containers, inward and outward containers grew by 9% and 7% to 2.4 million teus and 2.5 million teus respectively.
On a seasonally adjusted quarter-to-quarter comparison, laden container throughput increased by 1% in the first quarter of 2008. Within this total, inward laden containers recorded virtually no change, while outward laden containers increased by 3%.
Seaborne laden containers grew by 10% in the first quarter of 2008 over a year earlier to 3.6 million teus, while river-laden containers increased by four percent to 1.2 million teus.
Within inward laden containers, imports decreased by one percent in the first quarter of 2008 over a year earlier to 0.8 million teus, while inward transshipment increased by 15% to 1.5 million teus. For outward laden containers, exports decreased by four percent to 0.9 million teus, while outward transshipment went up by 15% to 1.6 million teus.
In the first quarter of 2008, the number of ocean vessel arrivals recorded virtually no change over a year earlier to 9,490, with the total capacity increasing by 14% to 99.7 million net registered tons. Over the same period, the number of river vessel arrivals increased by two percent to 46,360, with the total capacity decreasing by eight percent to 25.0 million net registered tons.
