Throughput volumes at the Port of Hong Kong fell 2.8% in March, to 1.58M teu.
The Kwai Tsing terminals accounted for 1.23m teu, 1.6% down on the figure recorded in March 2018. The midstream operators handled 350,000 teu, a fall of 7% compared with the same period last year.
The cumulative total of containers handled at Hong Kong during the first quarter of 2019 is 4.41m teu, equating to fall of 9.7% on the 2018 Q1 figure of 4.89m teu.
By contrast, regional rivals, Singapore and Shanghai witnessed volume growth in March. Singapore recorded throughput of 3.16m teu, up 3,6% compared to 3.05m teu in March 2018. In the first quarter of 2019, Singapore has handled a total throughput of 8.9m teu.
Shanghai’s increased throughput was still more dramatic; volumes rose 12.4% to 3.81m teu compared to 3.39m teu in March 2018.
Consolidated throughput for the first three months of the year totalled 10.42m teu, an increase of 7% compared to 9.74m teu in the corresponding period of 2018.
