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Hong Kong set a new record in its container throughput in 2003 by handling
20.4 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers, making it
the world's busiest container port for the 11th time in the last 12 years.
About 436 100 vessels arrived in and departed from
Hong Kong during the year. These vessels carried 207.6 million tonnes
of cargo and about 17 million passengers. Most of these passengers commuted
on the world's largest fleet of high-speed ferries, including jetfoils
and jet catamarans, to and from Macau and other ports in southern China.
Being the junction of two different forms of maritime
transport — the large ocean-going vessels from the Pacific Ocean
and the smaller, coastal and river trade craft from the Pearl River —
Hong Kong is a modern, fully developed deep-water harbour and the focal
point of all maritime trading activities in southern China.
On an average day there are around 100 ocean-going
ships working in the port; nearly 500 river trade craft entering or leaving
the port; and many river ferries and local craft working in or passing
through the harbour. Ship turnaround performance is among the best in
Asia: container ships at terminal berths are routinely turned round in
10 hours or less, while conventional vessels working cargo at buoys are
in port for only 1.2 days on average. |
