HONG KONG: Due to immense congestion in Hong Kong ports, about 9% of container ships skipped Hong Kong port calls at Kwai Tsing Container Terminal (KTCT).
The trade groups believe that most of the skips were due to port congestion, the Transport and Housing Bureau (THB) of Hong Kong told local legislators yesterday.
In the first 10 months of 2014, the container throughput at KTCT rose 4.7% year-on-year to 14.8M teu, the Hong Kong Port Development Council estimated.
For container ships berthing at KTCT, the average duration grew longer to 13.1 hours in 2013 from 11.5 hours in 2011 and 11.8 hours in 2012, the THB said, citing information from the Marine Department of Hong Kong.
The longer berthing duration was mainly due to the increase in size and loading capacity of container ships, and a longer time for loading and unloading cargoes.
The average number of containers loaded and unloaded by each container ship berthed at KTCT has increased to the present level of about 1,700teu from about 1,350teu in 2011.
At present, the container throughput of Hong Kong is stable, averaging around 23M teu per year.
