Transport statistics | New registration of motor vehicles surges in Q4

Yesterday the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) released their final data concerning transportation in the last quarter of 2017. The data shows a 3.6 percent drop in the total number of licensed motor vehicles year-on-year.

The most significant drop was registered in the number of light motorcycles, which decreased 20.7 percent, while light automobiles registered a decrease of 3.7 percent. Acquisitions of heavy motorcycle registrations increased by 3 percent.
The results show a slight annual decrease, although the last quarter of 2017 was marked with a general increase in the acquisition of motorized vehicles registrations. The hike may be understood as a response to the consequences of the Typhoon Hato, which destroyed and damaged a large number of vehicles.

The registration of motor vehicles in the fourth quarter rose by 29 percent. The most dramatic increase was the rise of heavy motorcycle registrations, which went up by 34.8 percent quarter-on-quarter.

According to DSEC, in the fourth quarter there were 3,630 cases of traffic accidents; in these accidents the number of victims totaled 1,167. These figures reflect a decline of 16.4 percent and 8.5 percent, respectively, year-on-year.
In total, across the whole year of 2017, the number of traffic accidents fell by 4.1 percent year-on-year to 14,717 cases, resulting in 4,714 casualties, with eight of them being fatal.

Regarding air traffic, the Macau International Airport recorded a total of 14,505 commercial flights in the fourth quarter of 2017, up by 13 percent year- on-year. For the whole year of 2017,  commercial flights registered an increase of 2.3 percent year-on-year to 54,842. Flight movements to and from mainland China and South Korea grew by 4.3 percent and 64.2 percent respectively, while those to and from Thailand and Taiwan registered bigger drops, of 24.9 and 7.2 percent respectively.

The Macau International Airport handled 10,990 tons of air cargo in the fourth quarter of 2017, up by 8.9 percent year-on-year.
In 2017, air cargo increased by 14 percent year-on- year to 37,493 tons, with inward cargo (6,643 tons), outward cargo (23,356 tons) and transit cargo (7,494 tons) rising by 3.4 percent, 19 percent and 9.5 percent respectively.
For 2017, Taiwan was the major origin and destination for inward and outward air cargo, constituting 54.9 percent and 45.4 percent of the respective totals. Outward air cargo to Vietnam (2,987 tons) surged by 50.4 percent year-on-year.