According to the statistics released earlier by Alphaliner, an international shipping research organisation, Hong Kong's port throughput last year dropped by 14.1% YoY to 14.34 million TEUs. Hong Kong container terminal fell out of the world's top 10 container ports, dropping to 11th.

However, according to the Transport and Logistics Bureau (TLB), Hong Kong handled 14.4 million TEUs last year, and it is estimated that Hong Kong will still remain in the top 10 according to the methodology of Lloyd's List, an authoritative media in the international shipping industry. In a post on social media, the Bureau said that the ranking methodologies of different organisations are different and that Hong Kong's overall port strength should not be measured solely based on throughput ranking.

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In a social media post last night (18 Apr), TLB commented that according to the "2023 Xinhua-Baltic International Shipping Centre Development Index Report", Hong Kong ranked fourth globally, reflecting Hong Kong's overall maritime strength, with ideal port conditions, a quality maritime services cluster and an excellent business environment. Citing the Shanghai Shipping Exchange, TLB added that the average length of stay of ocean-going international container vessels in the Hong Kong port in 2023 was 0.95 days, far lower than the average of 1.85 days of the world's top 20 container ports, demonstrating the high efficiency of Hong Kong's port in terms of handling capacity.

Nevertheless, Hong Kong's port throughput lags behind Mainland ports in both the Government's and the organisations' port rankings. According to Hong Kong's statistics, Shanghai, Ningbo-Zhoushan and Qingdao all recorded YoY increases in container throughput last year. And even though Shenzhen recorded a YoY drop of 0.5%, it is significantly different from Hong Kong's YoY drop of 13%.

In the 14.4 million TEUs handled by Hong Kong last year, those from river transport fell 16.3%, a higher decline than the 12.5% drop in sea transport. This may reflect that Pearl River Delta cargos are diverted to the ports of Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

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