WASHINGTON: The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) released the statistics on vessels, port cargo and containers for the first quarter of 2016. In the first quarter of 2016, total port cargo throughput decreased by 18.7% compared with a year earlier to 55.6 million tonnes. Within this total, inward and outward port cargo decreased by 22.9% and 12.1% to 32.3 million tonnes and 23.3 million tonnes respectively.
On a seasonally adjusted quarter-to-quarter comparison, total port cargo throughput increased by 6.2% in the first quarter of 2016. Within this total, inward and outward port cargo increased by 2.1% and 12.3% respectively. The seasonally adjusted series enables more meaningful shorter-term comparison to be made for discerning possible variations in trends.