The Hong Kong Maritime and Port Board announced that based on information provided by major operators, the container throughput of Hong Kong port fell 4.2% year-on-year to 1.191 million equivalent units (TEUs) in December last year. For the full year, it fell 4.9% to 13.69 million TEU, a 28-year low since 1996.

By terminal, container throughput at Kwai Tsing Container Terminal decreased 2.5% year-on-year to 871,000 TEU in December and 6.2% year-on-year to 10.352,000 TEU for the year. In the same period, container throughput outside Kwai Tsing Container Terminal decreased by 8.5% year-on-year to 32.0 million TEU and slightly decreased by 0.9% for the year to 3.338 million TEU.

According to the data of Shenzhen Municipal Transportation Bureau, the container throughput of Shenzhen Port reached 33.38 million TEU last year, an increase of 11.7%. In addition, Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng mentioned in the government work report yesterday that the container throughput of Shanghai Port reached 51.506 million TEU last year, ranking first in the world for 15 consecutive years, and becoming the world's first annual throughput of more than 50 million TEU of the world's largest port.

The Hong Kong Transport and Logistics Bureau said in a social media post that Secretary Margaret Chan visited the Kwai Tsing Container Terminal earlier this week and met with various terminal operators to discuss the government's policy direction and expectations, and listen to the business plans and concerns of various operators. She pointed out that the Government was actively promoting the development of green ports and smart ports, such as promoting Hong Kong to become a green Marine fuel refuelling centre; To complete the construction of the port community system by the end of this year; And explore the extension of air transhipment cargo exemption arrangements to other modes of multimodal transport.