HONG KONG: The Hong Kong government has proposed the integration of some port back-up land into the areas of Kwai Tsing Container Terminals (KTCTs), in a move intended to increase yard space and barge berthing facilities.
The government released the proposals to enhance cargo handling capacity and operational efficiency of KTCTs, as well as maintain the competitiveness of Hong Kong Port (HKP), a statement of the Transport and Housing Bureau (THB) said.
Due to the port congestion faced by HKP, and with more containerised cargo being concentrated at KTCTs, the proposed measures seek to enable more efficient processing of transhipment cargo, which has been on a rising trend, a spokesman for the THB said.
According to the findings of the Study on the Strategic Development Plan for Hong Kong Port 2030, HKP will continue to see growth in container throughput at an annual rate of 1.5% up to 2030. It is thus necessary to implement measures to enhance existing infrastructure to meet forecast demand.
“There are also proposed measures to help improve the operating environment for small- and medium-sized logistics enterprises [SMEs] operating on port back-up land let out on short-term tenancies [STTs] in KTCTs. In response to operators’ needs, some of the terms and conditions of STTs are being refined to make them more conducive to SME operations,” the spokesman noted.
In addition, for longer-term development, there are plans to explore the feasibility of having multi-storey facilities on suitable port back-up sites for container/goods vehicle parking or cargo storage/consolidation uses, so as to free up more land in the vicinity of KTCTs to support port operations and cater for the future development needs of the HKP, the spokesman added.
