Third-quarter port cargo up 9%
Hong Kong’s total port cargo throughput in the third quarter grew 9% year-on-year to 67.3 million metric tons according to the Census and Statistics Department.
Within this total, inward and outward port cargo rose 7% and 12% compared to a year earlier to 37.2 million metric tons and 30.1 million metric tons respectively. In the first nine months of 2008, total port cargo throughput increased by 10% compared to a year earlier to 198.1 million metric tons. Within this total, inward and outward port cargo rose by 7% and 14% to 111.6 million metric tons and 86.5 million metric tons respectively.
On a seasonally adjusted quarter-to-quarter comparison, total port cargo throughput recorded virtually no change in the third quarter of 2008. Within this total, inward port cargo decreased by 1%, while outward port cargo rose by 1%. The seasonally adjusted series enables more meaningful shorter-term comparisons to be made.
Within port cargo, seaborne and river cargo grew by 3% and 25%, compared to a year earlier, to 46.2 million metric tons and 21.1 million metric tons respectively in the third quarter of 2008.
In the third quarter of 2008, the port of Hong Kong handled 6.7 million TEUs of containers, up 7% compared to a year earlier. Within this total, laden and empty containers rose by 7% and 9% to 5.5 million TEUs and 1.2 million TEUs respectively. Among laden containers, inward and outward containers grew by 9% and 5% to 2.7 million TEUs and 2.9 million TEUs respectively.
Ocean vessel arrivals fell 3% year-on-year to 8,830, with the total capacity decreasing 1% to 93.5 million net registered tons. River vessel arrivals dropped 5% to 45,630, with the total capacity falling 1% to 24.7 million net registered tons.
New CDMA2000 mobile network launched
On November 20, the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) announced that PCCW-HKT Telephone Limited has launched CDMA2000 mobile service in Hong Kong.
This is the fifth 3G mobile network in Hong Kong, in addition to the four W-CDMA networks licensed in 2001.
An OFTA spokesperson said the new network offers high speed data and voice services conforming to the CDMA2000 standard in the golden bowl areas covering the Kowloon peninsula and the northern part of Hong Kong Island. The service coverage will be further extended to cover places such as the airport, Mass Transit Railway stations, the road tunnels and border control points.
CDMA is one of the major mobile communications standards and it has been widely deployed in Canada, the USA, Japan, Korea and mainland China. With the launch of the CDMA2000 service in Hong Kong, visitors holding CDMA equipment can now enjoy CDMA2000 roaming services. This will strengthen Hong Kong’s strategic position as a world city as well as its standing as the gateway between the Mainland and the world.
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