Hong Kong box traffic slides 0.7 percent in H1, 2012

Container throughput at the Port of Hong Kong (China) in the first quarter of 2012 totaled 11.77 million TEUs, a 0.7-percent decline compared with the same period last year, the Port Authority statistics said.

Shipments of containers through Kwai Tsing, the port's largest container terminal rose 2.2% to 8.73 million TEUs, container traffic at other terminals fell by 8.1% to 3.03 million TEUs.

In June, handling of containerized imports / exports declined by 6.8% to 1.93 million TEUs. Monthly volume of containers at Kwai Tsing fell 1.7% to 1.42 million TEUs, with a 18.4% container throughput drop at other terminals, to 510,000 TEUs.

Port of Hong Kong is one of the busiest container ports in the world. In 2011, overall container throughput at the Port of Hong Kong totaled 24.4 million TEUs. The port is able to handle 456,000 ships a year.