Container throughput in Hong Kong and Shenzhen fell significantly in January.
Hong Kong port’s container throughput fell 23.2 per cent last month from a year ago to 1.62m teu, South China Morning Post reported, its biggest fall since the early 1990s. Shenzhen port’s throughput experienced its worst ever monthly decline, falling 17.5 per cent to 1.526m teu.

Although last month’s decline in Hong Kong was smaller than the 24.1 per cent drop in December, last month should have been bolstered by the traditional cargo rush before the Chinese New Year, according to Sunny Ho Lap-kee, executive director of the Hong Kong Shippers’ Council.

"February and March will be a lot worse than January,” he added. “We'll be lucky if February’s throughput in Hong Kong is a third of January’s.”

This is because throughput tends to fall more than 60 per cent in the month following the Lunar New Year from the previous month, Ho said. "Factories have not started production yet. There are virtually no orders.”

Because of this lack of orders, many workers who went home for the Chinese New Year have delayed returning to the factories in the Pearl River Delta.