Hong Kong port’s cargo throughput fell 4 per cent year-on-year to 64.4m tons in the third quarter of 2009. Within this total, inbound cargo declined 2 per cent to 36.3m tons and outbound cargo fell 7 per cent to 28.1m tons, said the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department.

In terms of containers, the port handled 5.6m teu, down 16 per cent over last year. Laden containers went down 13 per cent to 4.8m teu, while empty containers fell 28 percent to 0.8m teu.

On the mainland, the southeastern port of Xiamen recorded a healthy October volume of 34,281 TEU. From January to October, its international container transhipments totalled 120,000 teu, ahead of the full-year 2008 total of 100,000 teu. The growth was said to be a result of local government measures to encourage carriers to use Xiamen as a transit port.