Record on cargo missed

HONG KONG handled 999,217 20-foot containers (teus) in October last year, narrowly missing logging its fourth, one million teu month in a row.

In July, Hong Kong became the world's first port to handle one million teus in a single month. It then surpassed the one million mark in August and September.

The October figures brought Hong Kong's throughput for the first 10 months of last year to 9.16 million teus, up 20.6 per cent on the same period in 1993.

Port Development Board secretary Tony Clark said the throughput figures underlined the urgent necessity of building additional container capacity in the territory as soon as possible.

He said that despite improved efficiency at the existing terminals, a shortage of container facilities was looming.