Kwai Tsing Port - Hong Kong
Two trade associations in Hong Kong are calling on the territory’s government to allocate land in Kwai Tsing Container Port and create a policy to ease the port’s congestion.
The two groups, Hong Kong Container Terminal Operators Association and the Hong Kong Liner Shipping Association (HKSLA), said in a joint statement last Thursday that such a move is “needed to maintain the city’s world-class port status against the backdrop of rising competition and a changing landscape in the container shipping industry”.
The groups propose an additional 70 ha of land to be integrated with existing container terminals to create a Kwai Tsing Port Zone.
“Given the strong barge volumes and transhipments in the region, we need sufficient land and berthing facilities to allow for effective barge-vessel arrangements and smooth inter-terminal trucking flow to meet the vast number of cargo consolidation activities between shipping alliance carriers at the port,” said HKSLA chairman Tony Tong.
Hong Kong lost its status as world’s third busiest port in 2013 becoming the world’s fourth-busiest after Shenzhen, having posted a significant decline in container volumes largely due to having faced nearly two months of industrial action at its key terminal.
Throughput for 2013 stood at 22,352,000 teu, down 3.3% from 23,117,000 teu in 2012.