Report: Hong Kong Box Terminals Should be Moved
A study says Hong Kong will eventually have to move its container terminals out of Kwai Tsing to remain competitive.
A study by think tank SD Advocates, the Chinese University and BMT Asia Pacific says that Hong Kong needs to relocate the container terminals from Kwai Tsing to another part of the city, if it wants to remain a competitive global logistics hub in the long term.
The terminals, opened more than 40 years ago, were outdated because they were designed for direct cargo to and from the city. They were built to handle direct South China export containers that have all but disappeared. Around 70 percent of the containers handled by the 24 berths are transshipment cargo and require thousands of inter-terminal trucking moves.
Added to the pressure is the dramatic increase in vessel sizes and the increasing complexity of shipping line alliances.
Kwai Tsing, the fourth busiest port in the world, has suffered heavy congestion throughout 2014, with shipping lines resorting to re-routing and diverting their services to Shenzhen.
Industry experts like Andy Tung, chief executive officer, Orient Overseas Container Line, said the efficiency of the Kwai Tsing port had already reached a bottleneck. Shipping companies now use bigger vessels which carry more containers to maximise efficiency, he said, and containers are staying longer in the port.
The Hong Kong Container Terminal Operators’ Association (HKCTOA) raised the issue last year in a white paper, which urged the Hong Kong government to to create a Kwai Tsing Port Zone. HKCTOA chairman Jessie Chung said the needs of the port had evolved with the changing cargo mix.
Government figures showed Kwai Tsing was the fourth busiest port in the world handling over 22 million containers in 2013.
The government said it has no plan to relocate the container terminal.
