MACAU, March 28 - Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that licensed motor vehicles in Macao totalled 251,036 as at end-February 2024, up by 0.5% year-on-year; light automobiles (116,381) and heavy motorcycles (108,757) rose by 2.0% and 0.4% respectively. New registration of motor vehicles in February fell by 17.9%  year-on-year to 753 (including 258 electric vehicles); of which, light automobiles increased by 35.3% to 383 (105 of them were electric), whereas heavy motorcycles dropped by 50.7% to 279 (73 of them were electric). In the first two months of 2024, new registration of motor vehicles grew by 22.1% year-on-year to 2,077. Number of traffic accidents in February climbed by 11.9% year-on-year to 1,103, with 388 persons injured. In the first two months of 2024, there were 2,454 traffic accidents, which resulted in 1 death and 853 injuries.

Cross-border vehicular traffic in February grew by 28.5% year-on-year to 634,119 trips. Light passenger car trips rose by 30.6% year-on-year to 602,276; of which, trips made under the “Northbound Travel for Macao Vehicles” policy (114,000 trips) and Macao vehicle trips to and from Hong Kong (21,000 trips) surged by 321.6% and 94.7% respectively, while trips made by Macao single-plate vehicles travelling to and from Hengqin (100,000 trips) fell by 17.8%. Meanwhile, gross weight of containerized cargo by land in February soared by 147.9% year-on-year to 4,576 tonnes; cargo passing through the Checkpoint of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (4,487 tonnes) took up 98.1% of the total. In the first two months of 2024, cross-border vehicular traffic (1,367,103 trips) leapt by 48.0% year-on-year, while gross weight of containerized cargo by land (10,011 tonnes) expanded by 157.8%.

Gross weight of port containerized cargo dipped by 4.6% year-on-year to 12,753 tonnes in February; cargo being handled at the Ká-Hó Harbour (6,445 tonnes) dropped by 19.9% whereas that being shipped through the Inner Harbour (6,308 tonnes) swelled by 18.5%. In the first two months of 2024, gross weight of port containerized cargo went up by 21.2% year-on-year to 30,954 tonnes.

Arriving and departing commercial flights totalled 4,375 trips in February, a sharp rise of 121.4% year-on-year. Gross weight of air cargo jumped by 125.1% year-on-year to 5,885 tonnes, of which gross weight of inward cargo (320 tonnes) and outward cargo (5,451 tonnes) grew by 4.2% and 141.3% respectively. In the first two months of 2024, number of arriving and departing commercial flights hiked by 142.1% year-on-year to 8,869 trips, while gross weight of air cargo (13,594 tonnes) swelled by 153.4%.

As at the end of February 2024, there were 86,493 fixed-line telephone subscribers, down by 5.5% year-on-year. Number of mobile phone subscribers increased by 12.5% year-on-year to 1,383,547; postpaid subscribers (1,010,355) and prepaid SIM card subscribers (373,192) rose by 8.7% and 24.3% respectively. Internet subscribers totalled 737,533 as at end-February, an increase of 4.7% year-on-year. The duration of internet usage in February grew by 3.1% year-on-year to 140 million hours, whereas the total duration of internet usage in the first two months of 2024 edged down by 0.4% to 283 million hours.