Results of the Transport and Communications Statistics for January – September 2006

Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that number of licensed vehicles in Macao reached 160,901 at the end of September 2006, of which 52% (83,240) were motorcycles and 41% (66,453) were private vehicles. Registration of new vehicles grew by 2% year-on-year to 13,515 in the first nine months of the year, with motorcycles and light vehicles accounted for 62% and 34% respectively. From January to September of 2006, there were 9,723 cases of traffic accidents, a drop of 2% over the same period of 2005, resulting in 3,333 casualties and 13 of them were killed. Traffic flow by land between Macao and Mainland China rose by 6% to 2,435,988 vehicle trips in the first nine months of 2006. The Border Gate was the major passage that took up 81% of the total, while the Checkpoint of CoTai recorded 470,427 vehicle trips. Moreover, arrivals and departures of commercial flights at the Macao International Airport totalled 35,583, up by 12% over the same period of 2005. Taiwan, China and Mainland China were the major routes that accounted for 48% and 35% of the total commercial flights to/from Macao. At the Outer Harbour, helicopter flights between Macao and Hong Kong registered a 1% year-on-year increase to 12,170, whereas 2,172 helicopter flights were recorded between Macao and Mainland China. Passenger transport by sea between Hong Kong and Macao rose marginally by 0.03% to 59,849 ferry trips from the same period of 2005, while passenger ferry between Macao and Mainland China surged significantly by 36% to 11,032 trips. For containerized cargo, total seaborne container throughput reached 98,911 TEUs or 69,954 seaborne containers handled, up 20% and 17% compared with the first nine months of 2005. In addition, gross weight of seaborne containerized cargo in the first three quarters of 2006 increased by 13% over 2005 to 240,475 tonnes, of which 53,685 tonnes were transshipment goods; meanwhile, gross weight of containerized cargo by land decreased by 9% to 60,057 tonnes, including 40,831 tonnes of transit goods. Outward air cargo handled at the Macao International Airport registered a year-on-year decrease of 1% to 63,503 tonnes in the first nine months of 2006. Taiwan, China was the major destination that accounted for 66% of the total, followed by Mainland China and Luxembourg, representing 15% and 8% respectively. Concurrently, inward air cargo fell by 8% to 18,456 tonnes, of which those from Taiwan, China took up 89% of the total. In addition, transit cargo by air increased by 14% year-on-year to 81,516 tonnes.
At the end of September 2006, number of fixed line telephone totalled 176,229; mobile telephone and stored value GSM card users reached 613,296 when the number of internet services subscribers increased by 20% to 102,752. The cumulative usage of internet services reached 86.55 million hours in the first nine months of the year, up by 54% over the same period of 2005.