Hong Kong Registry Exceeds 10 mgt

The Hong Kong Shipping Register had achieved a record 10.71 million gross registered tons (GRT) with a total of 581 ships signed up as Hong Kong vessels, Reuters reported. The tonnage on the government-administered register had grown by more than four million GRT in less than two years and exceeded 10 million GRT two years earlier than originally forecast, a government statement said. It reached a peak of nine million GRT in June 1996, but the uncertainty associated with the change of sovereignty in July 1997 had caused it to tumble to an all-time low of 5.5 million GRT in November 1997.