IN Brief:
- Hong Kong handled 42.3 million tonnes of port cargo in Q2, down 0.2% year-on-year.
- Container throughput increased 1.1% to 3.24 million TEU, led by growth in laden traffic.
- First-half container volumes remained 3% lower, with empty-container movements down 14.8%.
Hong Kong’s container throughput edged higher during the second quarter of 2026 despite a small decline in overall port cargo, leaving the territory with a mixed freight picture as laden container movements improved but first-half traffic remained below last year. The Census and Statistics Department said the port handled 42.3 million tonnes of cargo between April and June, 0.2% less than a year earlier, while container throughput increased 1.1% to 3.24 million twenty-foot equivalent units.
The direction of cargo flows differed more sharply than the headline total. Inward port cargo fell 3.8% year-on-year to 24.3 million tonnes during the quarter, while outward cargo increased 5.2% to 18 million tonnes. Seaborne cargo declined 3.2% to 25.6 million tonnes, whereas river cargo increased 4.8% to 16.7 million tonnes.
Shorter-term data was weaker. On a seasonally adjusted basis, total port cargo throughput fell 6.4% compared with the first quarter of 2026, with inward cargo down 7.7% and outward cargo 4.6% lower. That decline sits alongside the relatively flat annual comparison and shows how different reference periods can produce a substantially different picture of activity.
Container movements were more resilient. Of the 3.24 million TEU handled during the quarter, laden containers increased 2.5% to 2.64 million TEU, while empty-container throughput fell 4.4% to 600,000 TEU. Inward laden containers increased 1.6% to 1.39 million TEU and outward laden traffic rose 3.5% to 1.26 million TEU.
The first-half figures remain weaker than the second-quarter result suggests. Hong Kong handled 6.38 million TEU between January and June, 3% below the equivalent period of 2025. Laden containers were broadly stable, increasing 0.2% to 5.17 million TEU, but empty-container movements fell 14.8% to 1.21 million TEU.
That distinction is operationally important because empty-container flows reflect liner-network positioning as well as underlying trade demand. A fall in empty movements does not translate directly into the same reduction in cargo carried, although the location and availability of equipment still affects shippers if containers accumulate in one market while shortages emerge in another.
There was also considerable variation by cargo origin. Inward port cargo loaded in mainland China increased 10.3% during the second quarter, while double-digit declines were recorded for cargo loaded in Singapore, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and Vietnam. Singapore recorded the steepest reduction at 54.4%, followed by Korea at 40.5%, Taiwan at 32.4%, Japan at 21.9%, and Vietnam at 12.2%.
Those movements should not automatically be treated as permanent shifts in sourcing or shipping patterns. Quarterly cargo statistics can move with commodity flows, vessel schedules, transhipment decisions, inventory cycles, and unusually strong or weak comparison periods. They nevertheless show how a broadly stable headline can conceal much larger changes on individual lanes.
The mix of seaborne and river traffic adds another layer. River cargo increased during both the second quarter and the first half, while seaborne tonnage declined over both periods. Hong Kong operates within a dense southern China logistics network in which cargo can move between coastal gateways, inland terminals, road links, and river services, giving shippers several possible paths into and out of the Pearl River Delta.
Vessel activity also increased without producing an equivalent rise in cargo. Hong Kong recorded 5,145 ocean-vessel arrivals during the second quarter, 5% more than a year earlier, while their total capacity increased 1.7% to 75.2 million net tons. River-vessel arrivals fell 2.1% to 19,680, although their aggregate capacity increased 0.9%.
More ship calls do not necessarily mean more freight because liner schedules change for service rotations, timetable recovery, capacity deployment, and network balancing. Operators can therefore see higher vessel activity while utilisation or cargo mix moves differently, particularly in a regional market where several large container ports compete for the same underlying trade flows.
The statistics also underline the difficulty of describing a port market through one indicator. Total cargo was almost unchanged year-on-year, container traffic improved, laden boxes performed better than empties, and inward and outward flows moved in opposite directions. Individual loading markets then recorded swings far larger than any of those aggregate figures.
Hong Kong’s second-quarter container increase is therefore a firmer signal than the cargo total alone, but it does not yet amount to a broad recovery. First-half throughput remains below 2025, the seasonally adjusted quarterly cargo comparison is negative, and the geographic composition of traffic is changing substantially. The next quarter will show whether the improvement in laden containers develops into a more sustained rise in port activity or remains confined to selected flows.
