Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicates that number of licensed vehicles in Macao was 147,237 at the end of June 2005, of which 51% (74,921) were motorcycles and 45% (66,003) were light vehicles. New registration of vehicles in the first half of 2005 surged 21% year-on-year to 8,347, the majority were motorcycles (58%) and light vehicles (39%). In the first six months of 2005, there were 6,503 cases of traffic accident, an increase of 7% over the same period of 2004, resulting in 2,073 casualties and 7 of them were killed. Traffic flow by land between Macao and Mainland China increased by 11% to 1,477,816 vehicle trips. The Border Gate was the major passage that took up 77% of the total; meanwhile, the Checkpoint of CoTai recorded 337,634 vehicle trips. In the first half of 2005, arrivals and departures of commercial flight at the Macao International Airport totalled 20,607 flights, a jump of 18% 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, 7,952 helicopter flights were recorded (-11% year-on-year) between Macao and Hong Kong and 1,361 flights were recorded between Macao and Mainland China. Passenger transport by sea between Hong Kong and Macao increased by 8% over the first six months of 2004 to 39,356 ferry trips, while number of passenger ferry trips between Macao and Mainland China (5,272) was identical to the same period of 2004. Number of cargo vessel departures was 6,224 with a total capacity of 1,485,000 net registered tons, within which 4,324 vessels (69%) were flying the Chinese flag. In the first six months of 2005, total seaborne container throughput was 49,960 TEUs, or 36,387 seaborne containers handled, which fell by 11% and 8% compared with the same period of 2004. Number of container flow by land increased by 20% year-on-year to 4,732. In addition, gross weight of seaborne containerized cargo in the first five months of 2005 increased by 1% over the same period of 2004 to 112,358 tonnes, of which 39,103 tonnes were transshipment goods. Meanwhile, containerized cargo by land rose by 14% to 39,058 tonnes, including 31,012 tonnes of transit goods. Total weight of outward cargo handled at the Macao International Airport showed a year-on-year decrease of 6% to 41,007 tonnes in the first six months of 2005; at the same time, inward cargo decreased by 8% to 13,263 tonnes. At the end of June 2005, there were 173,281 fixed telephone lines in Macao; number of mobile telephone and stored value GSM card users totalled 476,212. Besides, number of internet subscribers increased to 82,712 at the end of June 2005 and the total hour of usage reached 34.61 million hours in the first six months of 2005, up by 13% and 43% over the same period of 2004.
