FIGURES from the Hong Kong Port Development Council showed the port handled 1.64 million TEU in January, representing a year-on-year decrease of 9.6 per cent from 1.82 million TEU in January last year.
Ordinarily the Hong Kong Marine Department releases the monthly port statistics on or about the 16th of every month, but this did not happen in February.
Repeated enquiries by telephone and email produced little response other than one man saying the person who usually did this job was away for the day, and then a woman, the next day, said, the person was still away.
Yet another call, had Hong Kong Shipping Gazette directed to the Hong Kong Port Development Council website to get the updates January tonnages statistics.
At the recent annual Anglo-Eastern press luncheon, the company's executive chairman Peter Cremers said in response to the perennial question about which city - Hong Kong or Singapore - was best for shipping, said that while Singapore was too expensive, problems dealing with the Hong Kong Marine Department eliminated any advantage Hong Kong might have had.
"I think the problem with the marine department started with the Lamma ferry disaster [in 2012}. The marine department has never been the same since," he said.
Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority reported a 10.4pc decrease in container movement in January, having handled 2.49 million TEU compared to 2.78 million TEU in January last year.
The Shanghai International Port (Group) Co (SIPG) posted a seven per cent drop in year-on-year container volume to 2.94 million TEU.
Shanghai port again retained its title as the worlds No 1 container port with an annual box volume of 36.54 million TEU, up 3.5 per cent year on year.
Shanghai beat its closest rival Singapore, which posted volumes of 30.9 million TEU in 2015, down 8.7 per cent year on year. Meanwhile, Hong Kong fell 9.5pc in 2015 to 20.1 million TEU.
Ordinarily the Hong Kong Marine Department releases the monthly port statistics on or about the 16th of every month, but this did not happen in February.
Repeated enquiries by telephone and email produced little response other than one man saying the person who usually did this job was away for the day, and then a woman, the next day, said, the person was still away.
Yet another call, had Hong Kong Shipping Gazette directed to the Hong Kong Port Development Council website to get the updates January tonnages statistics.
At the recent annual Anglo-Eastern press luncheon, the company's executive chairman Peter Cremers said in response to the perennial question about which city - Hong Kong or Singapore - was best for shipping, said that while Singapore was too expensive, problems dealing with the Hong Kong Marine Department eliminated any advantage Hong Kong might have had.
"I think the problem with the marine department started with the Lamma ferry disaster [in 2012}. The marine department has never been the same since," he said.
Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority reported a 10.4pc decrease in container movement in January, having handled 2.49 million TEU compared to 2.78 million TEU in January last year.
The Shanghai International Port (Group) Co (SIPG) posted a seven per cent drop in year-on-year container volume to 2.94 million TEU.
Shanghai port again retained its title as the worlds No 1 container port with an annual box volume of 36.54 million TEU, up 3.5 per cent year on year.
Shanghai beat its closest rival Singapore, which posted volumes of 30.9 million TEU in 2015, down 8.7 per cent year on year. Meanwhile, Hong Kong fell 9.5pc in 2015 to 20.1 million TEU.