Number of traffic accidents up, 2,540 injured

The total number of licensed motor vehicles reached 232,586 at the end of June 2014, up by 5 pct year-on-year, of which motorcycles and light private cars accounted for 52 pct and 41 pct respectively. Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that new registration of motor vehicles increased by 9 pct year-
on-year to 9,819 in the first half of 2014.
In the same period, the number of traffic accidents reached 7,517, up by 5 pct year-on-year, consisting of 2,540 people injured and 7 killed.
The transport statistics indicate that cross-border vehicle traffic reached 2,413,421 vehicle trips in the first half year of 2014, up by 6 pct year-on-year. The vast majority of that traffic was through the Border Gate. Furthermore, the passenger ferries between Macau and Hong Kong and between Macau and mainland China totaled 69,968 trips, an increase of 1 pct year-
on-year, with the Ferry Terminal at the Outer Harbor dominating the count, with 47,148 ferry trips.
The Macau International Airport had 23,443 commercial flights in the first half of 2014, an increase of 8 pct year-on-year. The major routes were those to mainland China (40 pct of total trips) and Taiwan (25 pct). Helicopter flights between Macau and other regions totaled 7,764, down by 5 pct year-
on-year.
DSEC indicated that that the volume of shipping containers totaled 68,904 TEU in the first half year of 2014, equivalent to 48,134 containers handled, up by 16 pct and 12 pct respectively year-
on-year.
Outward air cargo totaled 7,146 tonnes in the first half year of 2014, comparable to that a year earlier. Meanwhile, inward air cargo increased by 6 pct year-on-year to 3,167 tonnes. Taiwan remained the major origin and destination of inward and outward air cargo, accounting for 52 pct and 43 pct of the respective total. Transit air cargo increased by 11 pct year-on-year to 2,651 tonnes, mainly due to an increase in transit air cargo from Taiwan and Thailand.