The port of Hong Kong continues its downward spiral with a 8% drop in March throughput to 1.52m teu, although the rate of decline has moderated from the 16% plunge in February, the weakest month so far.

For the first quarter, overall throughput fell 10.4% to 4.41m teu.

Volumes at the main Kwai Tsing terminals fell 9% in March to 1.17m teu while at the non-Kwai Tsing terminals throughput was down 4.3% to 350,000 teu.

The March figures for the Kwai Tsing terminals are a slight improvement from the 9.8% year-on-year drop seen in January, the previous nominally comparable month but the absolute values are still lower, with 1.29m teu moved in January and 1.17m teu handled in March.