Information from the Statistics and Census Service indicated that number of licensed vehicles in Macao totalled 182,938 at the end of September 2008, a year-on-year increase of 6%, of which 53% (96,677) were motorcycles and 43% (78,645) were light private cars. New registration of vehicles decreased by 7% year-on-year to 15,389 in the first nine months of 2008, with motorcycles and light private cars accounting for 62% and 30% respectively.

From January to September of 2008, the total number of traffic accidents reduced by 3% over the same period of 2007 to 9,619 cases, resulting in 3,253 victims and 6 of them were killed.

Traffic flow by land between Macao and Mainland China went up by 2% year-on-year to 2,848,976 vehicle trips and the Border Gate was the major passage that took up 81% of the total.

Commercial flight movements at the Macao International Airport decreased by 2% year-on-year to 36,024 in the first nine months of 2008. Taiwan, China and Mainland China were the major routes that accounted for 38% and 27% of the total commercial flights to/from Macao. Helicopter flights between Macao and Hong Kong grew marginally by 1% year-on-year to 12,787, while those between Macao and Mainland China dropped by 10% to 2,037.

Passenger transport by sea between Hong Kong and Macao decreased by 2% compared with the first nine months of 2007 to 63,865 ferry trips, but those between Macao and Mainland China dropped by 24% to 15,641 trips.

For containerized cargo, total seaborne container throughput in the first three quarters of 2008 was 96,011 TEUs (-5%) or 71,290 containers handled (-3%). Gross weight of seaborne containerized cargo increased by 4% to 252,850 tonnes, with 17,343 tonnes of transshipment goods. Meanwhile, gross weight of containerized cargo by land jumped by 59% to 85,057 tonnes, including 18,655 tonnes of transit goods.

Outward air cargo fell sharply by 34% year-on-year to 32,975 tonnes in the first nine months of 2008. Taiwan, China and Mainland China were the main destinations that accounted for 65% and 11% of the total respectively. Concurrently, inward air cargo decreased by 18% to 13,495 tonnes where cargos from Taiwan, China took a predominant share of 84%. In addition, transit air cargos dropped significantly by 45% over the first nine months of 2007 to 36,722 tonnes.

At the end of September 2008, the number of mobile telephone users rose by 20% year-on year to 879,683; number of fixed-line telephone was similar to that from a year earlier, at 177,414. As regards internet services, number of subscribers increased to 128,164 and the cumulative duration of usage totalled 182 million hours in the first nine months of 2008, up by 9% and 43% respectively.