Results of the Transport and Communications Statistics for January to September 2005

Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that number of licensed vehicles in Macao reached 151,060 at the end of September 2005, of which 51% (77,146) were motorcycles and 45% (67,370) were light vehicles. New registration of vehicles surged by 20% year-on-year to 13,273 in the first nine months of 2005, motorcycles and light vehicles accounted for 58% and 38% respectively of the new registrations. There were 9,966 cases of traffic accidents reported in the first nine months of 2005, an increase of 7% over the same period of 2004, resulting in 3,216 casualties and 14 of them were killed. Traffic flow by land between Macao and Mainland China increased by 11% to 2,290,022 vehicle trips. The Border Gate was the major passage that took up 77% of the total, the Checkpoint of CoTai recorded 527,826 vehicle trips. In the first three quarters of 2005, arrival and departure of commercial flights at the Macao International Airport totalled 31,652 up by 13% over the same period of 2004. Taiwan, China and Mainland China were the major routes that accounted for 53% and 36% of the total commercial flights to/from Macao. At the Outer Harbour, 12,283 helicopter flights were recorded (-9% year-on-year) between Macao and Hong Kong; besides, 2,139 flights were recorded between Macao and Mainland China. Passenger transport by sea between Hong Kong and Macao increased by 6% over the first nine months of 2004 to 59,832 ferry trips, while passenger ferry between Macao and Mainland China (8,124 trips) increased by 2% compared with the same period of 2004. Number of cargo vessel departures was 9,296, with a total capacity of 2,430,000 net registered tons, 68% (6,352) of the vessels were flying the Chinese flag. In the first nine months of 2005, total seaborne container throughput was 82,416 TEUs or 59,709 seaborne containers handled, which fell by 15% and 11% compared with the same period of 2004. Number of container flow by land showed a 10% year-on-year decrease to 6,962. In addition, gross weight of seaborne containerized cargo in the first eight months of 2005 decreased by 3% over 2004 to 188,414 tonnes, of which 57,510 tonnes were transshipment goods; meanwhile, gross weight of containerized cargo by land rose by 2% to 59,800 tonnes, including 46,255 tonnes of transit goods. Total weight of outward cargo handled at the Macao International Airport registered a year-on-year decrease of 10% to 63,939 tonnes in the first nine months of 2005; at the same time, respective weight of inward cargo also fell by 8% to 20,033 tonnes. At the end of September 2005, there were 174,159 fixed telephone lines, as well as 501,906 mobile telephone and stored value GSM card users in Macao. In addition, number of internet subscribers increased to 85,670 at the end of September 2005, while total hour of usage reached 56.34 million hours in the first nine months of 2005, up by 15% and 45% over the same period of 2004.