Local News

The city of Kitakyushu reports that the freight volume handled at the city’s port in 2009 was down 20.7% from the year before to 86.74 million tons. The number of ships that entered port was down 10.8% to 61,013. That was the second straight decline in freight volume and the fourth straight decline for ship totals. The port authorities attribute this to the global economic downturn and the discounted tolls on expressways.