The transport sector recorded total receipts of $300.8 billion last year, 0.5% lower than a year earlier, while the gross surplus dropped 1.5% to $41.5 billion, the Census & Statistics Department says.

Releasing findings of an annual survey on transport and related services today, the department said the gross surplus accounted for 13.8% of total receipts.

The sector's value added, a measure of its contribution to our GDP, amounted to $87.2 billion, down 2.6% on the previous year.

The four largest value added major industry groups were air transport, land passenger transport, ocean and coastal water transport, and services incidental to transport. They together accounted for 83% of the total value added of the whole sector.

Partly affected by the SARS outbreak, value added in 2003 of air transport, land passenger transport and supporting services to land transport fell 14%, 7.2% and 4.7% compared with a year earlier. 

Value-added falls were also seen in services incidental to transport (0.1%), inland water transport (0.1%), and supporting services to water transport (0.1%).