Total port cargo throughput in 2009 dropped 6% over a year earlier to 243 million tonnes, the Census & Statistics Department says.

Inward port cargo fell 5% to 139.3 million tonnes while outward port cargo dropped 9% to 103.7 million tonnes.

Seaborne cargo dropped 10% to 161.6 million tonnes, while river cargo rose 2% to 81.4 million tonnes.

Within inward port cargo, imports recorded virtually no change last year at 76.2 million tonnes, while inward transhipment dropped 10% to 63.1 million tonnes.

For outward port cargo, exports and outward transhipment dropped 10% and 8% to 38.6 million tonnes and 65 million tonnes.