A woman was fined $20,000 at the Eastern Magistrates' Courts today (March 5) for contravening the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance.
           
     The courts heard that in January last year, officers of the Office of the Licensing Authority (OLA), Home Affairs Department, inspected a suspected unlicensed guesthouse on King's Road in North Point. The OLA officers posed as lodgers and successfully rented a room in the guesthouse on a daily basis.
           
     According to the OLA's records, the guesthouse did not possess a licence under the Ordinance on the day of inspection. The woman responsible for operating the premises was charged with contravening section 5(1) of the Ordinance.
           
     A department spokesman stressed that operating or managing an unlicensed guesthouse is a criminal offence and will lead to a criminal record. Upon conviction, the offender is liable to a maximum fine of $200,000 and two years' imprisonment.
           
     The spokesman appealed to anyone with information about suspected unlicensed guesthouses to report it to the OLA through the hotline (Tel: 2881 7498), by email (hadlaenq@had.gov.hk), by fax (2504 5805) using the report form downloaded from the OLA website (www.hadla.gov.hk), or through the mobile application "Hong Kong Licensed Hotels and Guesthouses".

     Hongkong Post announced today (March 5) that, as advised by the postal administration of Saudi Arabia, due to a port customs clearance issue, mail acceptance has ceased. All surface mail services (including letter post items and parcels) to Saudi Arabia are suspended with immediate effect until further notice.
 

     The Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, today (March 5) officiated at the opening ceremony of the Kwai Tsing Community Green Station (CGS), marking the launch of full services at the Kwai Tsing CGS to encourage members of the public to practise waste reduction and clean recycling, and to foster a green community.

     Officiating at today's opening ceremony, Mr Wong said that the Government is adopting a multi-pronged approach including introducing municipal solid waste (MSW) charging and progressively implementing various Producer Responsibility Schemes, with a view to promoting waste reduction at source and clean recycling, as well as reducing the overall waste disposal level and promoting a circular economy. To strengthen public education and recycling support for waste reduction and recycling, the Government is expanding the CGS network across the territory to enhance the support for waste reduction and recycling and environmental education at the community level.

     Following an open tender by the Environmental Protection Department (EPD), the New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (New Life) was awarded a three-year service contract to operate the Kwai Tsing CGS in June last year. Mr Wong noted that New Life has long-term community service experience in Kwai Tsing, where it has provided mental health and vocational rehabilitation services for people with disabilities since 1981. Mr Wong said he is confident that New Life will be able to develop an extensive service network and provide recycling support and environmental education programmes to promote the message of "use less, waste less" at the community level, which will help facilitate the implementation of MSW charging in due course.

     Located at 12 Tam Kon Shan Road in Tsing Yi, the Kwai Tsing CGS is open to the public from 8am to 8pm on a daily basis, except for specified closed days. The Kwai Tsing CGS already provides a collection service for recyclables for housing estates and organisations taking part in its recycling programmes in the district. The recyclables, including waste paper, waste plastics, waste metal, electrical appliances, glass containers, compact fluorescent lamps and tubes, and rechargeable batteries, are collected in community regularly and sent to suitable recyclers for treatment and turned into resources. In addition, it will hold environmental education programmes at various locations in the district and organise large-scale green events from time to time to facilitate the exchange of reusable resources like used clothing, books and other reusable items and encourage waste reduction at source.

     Together with the Kwai Tsing CGS, there are seven CGS projects in operation. All these projects are operating smoothly and making good progress in providing support for waste reduction and recycling in the community. As at the end of 2018, the CGSs have cumulatively collected over 4 200 tonnes of recyclables, received more than 790 000 visitors and organised over 4 000 environmental education events.

     In addition, an open tendering exercise for two service contracts of the Tai Po CGS and the Islands CGS is in progress and the contracts are expected to be awarded in the first half of 2019. Information on the latest progress of the CGS projects is available on the EPD website at www.wastereduction.gov.hk/en/community/cgs_intro.htm. Members of the public can also learn more about CGS events through the dedicated Facebook pages of the individual CGSs.

     The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) today (March 5) released the statistics on vessels, port cargo and containers for the fourth quarter of 2018.
 
     In the fourth quarter of 2018, total port cargo throughput decreased by 13.0% compared with the fourth quarter of 2017 to 65.1 million tonnes. Within this total, inward port cargo and outward port cargo decreased by 14.3% and 10.8% compared with the fourth quarter of 2017 to 40.0 million tonnes and 25.1 million tonnes respectively.
 
     For 2018 as a whole, total port cargo throughput decreased by 8.2% compared with the whole year of 2017 to 258.5 million tonnes. Within this total, inward port cargo and outward port cargo decreased by 8.6% and 7.4% compared with the whole year of 2017 to 159.5 million tonnes and 99.0 million tonnes respectively.
 
     On a seasonally adjusted quarter-to-quarter comparison, total port cargo throughput increased by 4.8% in the fourth quarter of 2018. Within this total, inward port cargo and outward port cargo increased by 7.4% and 0.8% respectively compared with the preceding quarter. The seasonally adjusted series enables more meaningful shorter-term comparison to be made for discerning possible variations in trends.
 
Port cargo
 
     Within port cargo, seaborne and river cargo decreased by 6.0% and 22.8% in the fourth quarter of 2018 compared with the fourth quarter of 2017 to 41.2 million tonnes and 23.9 million tonnes respectively.
 
     Within inward port cargo, imports and inward transhipment decreased by 18.0% and 8.8% in the fourth quarter of 2018 compared with the fourth quarter of 2017 to 22.7 million tonnes and 17.3 million tonnes respectively. For outward port cargo, exports (including domestic exports and re-exports) and outward transhipment decreased by 22.7% and 3.3% compared with the fourth quarter of 2017 to 8.3 million tonnes and 16.8 million tonnes respectively.
 
     Within port cargo, seaborne and river cargo decreased by 7.0% and 10.2% in the whole year of 2018 compared with the whole year of 2017 to 164.5 million tonnes and 94.0 million tonnes respectively.
 
     Within inward port cargo, imports and inward transhipment decreased by 8.9% and 8.3% in the whole year of 2018 compared with the whole year of 2017 to 91.4 million tonnes and 68.1 million tonnes respectively. For outward port cargo, exports and outward transhipment decreased by 11.4% and 5.2% compared with the whole year of 2017 to 33.8 million tonnes and 65.3 million tonnes respectively.
 
     The detailed port cargo statistics are summarised in Table 1.
 
     The main countries/territories of loading of inward port cargo and countries/territories of discharge of outward port cargo are shown in Table 2 and Table 3 respectively.
 
     Comparing the fourth quarter of 2018 with the fourth quarter of 2017, double-digit increases were recorded in the tonnage of inward port cargo loaded in Malaysia (+22.8%) and Taiwan (+19.0%). On the other hand, double-digit decreases were recorded in the tonnage of inward port cargo loaded in Indonesia (-45.6%), the United States of America (-18.1%), Korea (-16.9%), Singapore (-16.6%), Japan (-14.1%) and the mainland of China (-11.6%). For outward port cargo, double-digit increase was recorded in the tonnage of outward port cargo discharged in the Philippines (+20.2%). On the other hand, double-digit decreases were recorded in the tonnage of outward port cargo discharged in Macao (-19.2%), the mainland of China (-15.8%) and Taiwan (-11.7%).
 
     Comparing the whole year of 2018 with the whole year of 2017, double-digit increase was recorded in the tonnage of inward port cargo loaded in Malaysia (+15.2%). On the other hand, double-digit decreases were recorded in the tonnage of inward port cargo loaded in Singapore (-19.1%), Japan (-19.0%), the United States of America (-15.3%), Korea (-14.7%) and Indonesia (-10.2%). For outward port cargo, double-digit increase was recorded in the tonnage of outward port cargo discharged in the Philippines (+13.0%). On the other hand, double-digit decreases were recorded in the tonnage of outward port cargo discharged in Macao (-50.6%), Korea (-15.3%), Thailand (-14.0%), Taiwan (-13.2%) and Malaysia (-10.6%).
 
     The principal commodities of inward port cargo and outward port cargo are shown in Table 4 and Table 5 respectively.
 
     Comparing the fourth quarter of 2018 with the fourth quarter of 2017, double-digit decreases were recorded in the tonnage of inward port cargo of "coal, coke and briquettes" (-45.3%), "stone, sand and gravel" (-27.5%) and "logs and timber; wood, simply worked" (-27.3%). As for outward port cargo, double-digit changes were recorded in the tonnage of "artificial resins and plastic materials" (+18.8%), "logs and timber; wood, simply worked" (-20.0%), "metalliferous ores and metal scrap" (-28.0%) and "stone, sand and gravel" (-36.7%).
 
     Comparing the whole year of 2018 with the whole year of 2017, double-digit decreases were recorded in the tonnage of inward port cargo of "stone, sand and gravel" (-16.5%) and "coal, coke and briquettes" (-13.9%). As for outward port cargo, double-digit decreases were recorded in the tonnage of "metalliferous ores and metal scrap" (-27.6%) and "stone, sand and gravel" (-14.1%).
 
Containers
 
     In the fourth quarter of 2018, the port of Hong Kong handled 4.96 million TEUs of containers, representing a decrease of 4.9% compared with the fourth quarter of 2017. Within this total, laden containers decreased by 5.8% to 4.19 million TEUs, while empty containers increased by 0.6% to 0.76 million TEUs. Among laden containers, inward and outward containers decreased by 7.8% and 3.6% to 2.16 million TEUs and 2.03 million TEUs respectively.
 
     For 2018 as a whole, the port of Hong Kong handled 19.60 million TEUs of containers, representing a decrease of 5.7% compared with the whole year of 2017. Within this total, laden and empty containers decreased by 5.9% and 4.0% to 16.70 million TEUs and 2.90 million TEUs respectively. Among laden containers, inward and outward containers decreased by 6.3% and 5.5% to 8.63 million TEUs and 8.07 million TEUs respectively.
 
     On a seasonally adjusted quarter-to-quarter comparison, laden container throughput increased by 3.2% in the fourth quarter of 2018. Within this total, inward and outward laden containers increased by 2.9% and 3.5% respectively.
 
     In the fourth quarter of 2018, seaborne and river laden containers decreased by 6.9% and 3.0% compared with the fourth quarter of 2017 to 2.95 million TEUs and 1.24 million TEUs respectively.
 
     Within inward laden containers, imports and inward transhipment decreased by 7.1% and 8.1% in the fourth quarter of 2018 compared with the fourth quarter of 2017 to 0.64 million TEUs and 1.52 million TEUs respectively. For outward laden containers, exports and outward transhipment decreased by 0.2% and 4.9% to 0.57 million TEUs and 1.46 million TEUs respectively.
 
     In the whole year of 2018, seaborne and river laden containers decreased by 7.7% and 1.3% compared with the whole year of 2017 to 11.88 million TEUs and 4.82 million TEUs respectively.
 
     Within inward laden containers, imports and inward transhipment decreased by 5.5% and 6.6% in the whole year of 2018 compared with the whole year of 2017 to 2.57 million TEUs and 6.06 million TEUs respectively. For outward laden containers, exports and outward transhipment decreased by 5.9% and 5.4% to 2.25 million TEUs and 5.82 million TEUs respectively.
 
     The detailed container statistics are summarised in Table 6.
 
     Port cargo and laden container statistics are compiled from a sample of consignments listed in the cargo manifests supplied by shipping companies and agents to the C&SD.
 
Vessel arrivals
 
     Comparing the fourth quarter of 2018 with the fourth quarter of 2017, the number of ocean vessel arrivals decreased by 2.5% to 6 425, with the total capacity also decreasing by 1.3% to 100.1 million net registered tons. Meanwhile, the number of river vessel arrivals decreased by 8.8% to 36 997, with the total capacity also decreasing by 4.9% to 28.6 million net registered tons.
 
     Comparing the whole year of 2018 with the whole year of 2017, the number of ocean vessel arrivals decreased by 5.2% to 25 410, with the total capacity also decreasing by 5.2% to 398.7 million net registered tons. Meanwhile, the number of river vessel arrivals decreased by 5.9% to 149 200, with the total capacity also decreasing by 7.5% to 110.7 million net registered tons.
 
     The statistics on vessel arrivals in Hong Kong are given in Table 7.
 
     Vessel statistics are compiled by the Marine Department primarily from general declarations submitted by ship masters and authorised shipping agents. Pleasure vessels and fishing vessels plying exclusively within the river trade limits are excluded.
 
Further information
 
     More detailed statistics on port cargo, containers and vessels are published in the report "Hong Kong Shipping Statistics, Fourth Quarter 2018". Users can download this publication free of charge at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/hkstat/sub/sp130.jsp?productCode=B1020008).
 
     For enquiries about port cargo and container statistics, please contact the Outward Processing and Shipping Statistics Section of the C&SD (Tel: 2582 2126 or email: shipping@censtatd.gov.hk). For enquiries about vessel statistics, readers may contact the Statistics Section under the Planning, Development and Port Security Branch of the Marine Department (Tel: 2852 3661 or email: st-sec@mardep.gov.hk).

     The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) released the latest figures on retail sales today (March 5).

     The value of total retail sales in January 2019, provisionally estimated at $48.1 billion, increased by 7.1% over the same month in 2018. The revised estimate of the value of total retail sales in December 2018 edged up by 0.1% over a year earlier.

     After netting out the effect of price changes over the same period, the provisional estimate of the volume of total retail sales in January 2019 increased by 6.9% over a year earlier. The revised estimate of the volume of total retail sales in December 2018 edged up by 0.1% over a year earlier.

     In interpreting the figures for January, it should be noted that retail sales tend to show greater volatility in the first two months of a year due to the timing of the Lunar New Year. Local consumer spending normally attains a seasonal high before the Festival. As the Lunar New Year fell on February 5 this year but on February 16 last year, the year-on-year comparison of the figures for January 2019 with those for January 2018 might have been affected by this factor to a certain extent.

     Analysed by broad type of retail outlet in descending order of the provisional estimate of the value of sales and comparing January 2019 with January 2018, and also bearing in mind the effect due to the difference in the timing of the Lunar New Year as mentioned above, the value of sales of jewellery, watches and clocks, and valuable gifts increased by 4.7%. This was followed by sales of medicines and cosmetics (+12.9% in value); wearing apparel (+2.4%); commodities in department stores (+15.1%); commodities in supermarkets (+8.6%); food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco (+13.0%); other consumer goods, not elsewhere classified (+13.4%); motor vehicles and parts (+9.0%); footwear, allied products and other clothing accessories (+21.0%); furniture and fixtures (+8.2%); books, newspapers, stationery and gifts (+1.5%); Chinese drugs and herbs (+7.9%); and optical shops (+2.1%).

     On the other hand, the value of sales of electrical goods and other consumer durable goods, not elsewhere classified decreased by 11.0% in January 2019 compared with a year earlier. This was followed by sales of fuels (-1.0% in value).

     Based on the seasonally adjusted series, the provisional estimate of the value of total retail sales decreased by 2.0% in the three months ending January 2019 compared with the preceding three-month period, while the provisional estimate of the volume of total retail sales decreased by 2.1%.

     These retail sales statistics measure the sales receipts in respect of goods sold by local retail establishments and are primarily intended for gauging the short-term business performance of the local retail sector. They cover consumer spending on goods but not on services (such as those on housing, catering, medical care and health services, transport and communication, financial services, education and entertainment) which account for over 50% of the overall consumer spending. Moreover, they include spending on goods in Hong Kong by visitors but exclude spending outside Hong Kong by Hong Kong residents. Hence they should not be regarded as indicators for measuring overall consumer spending.

     Users interested in the trend of overall consumer spending should refer to the data series of private consumption expenditure (PCE), which is a major component of the Gross Domestic Product published at quarterly intervals. Compiled from a wide range of data sources, PCE covers consumer spending on both goods (including goods purchased from all channels) and services by Hong Kong residents whether locally or abroad. Please refer to the C&SD publication "Gross Domestic Product (Quarterly)" for more details.

Commentary

      A government spokesman indicated that retail sales increased notably in January 2019 over a year earlier, partly lifted by the earlier arrival of the Lunar New Year this year and partly by the surge in visitor arrivals in that month. Yet, given the distortion by the difference in timing of the Lunar New Year, it would therefore be more meaningful to examine the retail sales figures for January and February combined, when available, to ascertain the underlying trend.

     The spokesman commented further that, in the near term, the outlook for retail sales business is still subject to uncertainty. While the full employment situation in the local labour market and the sustained expansion in inbound tourism should provide support, consumption sentiment will still be affected by the unsteady external environment. The Government will closely monitor the situation.

Further information

     Table 1 presents the revised figures on value index and value of retail sales for all retail outlets and by broad type of retail outlet for December 2018 as well as the provisional figures for January 2019.

     Table 2 presents the revised figures on volume index of retail sales for all retail outlets and by broad type of retail outlet for December 2018 as well as the provisional figures for January 2019.

     Table 3 shows the movements of the value and volume of total retail sales in terms of the year-on-year rate of change for a month compared with the same month in the preceding year based on the original series, and in terms of the rate of change for a three-month period compared with the preceding three-month period based on the seasonally adjusted series.

     The classification of retail establishments follows the Hong Kong Standard Industrial Classification (HSIC) Version 2.0, which is used in various economic surveys for classifying economic units into different industry classes.

    More detailed statistics are given in the "Report on Monthly Survey of Retail Sales". Users can download this publication free of charge at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/hkstat/sub/sp320.jsp?productCode=B1080003). Alternatively, the historical series of retail sales statistics can be downloaded in the form of a statistical table at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/hkstat/sub/sp320.jsp?productCode=D5600089).

     Users who have enquiries about the survey results may contact the Distribution Services Statistics Section of C&SD (Tel: 3903 7400; email: mrs@censtatd.gov.hk).