Hong Kong saw an 11.7% reduction in its container throughput year-on-year in April, 2015, with the result being the second consecutive month of declining container volumes, according to the Journal of Commerce.
PTI previously reported on Hong Kong’s Transport and Housing Bureau’s dismissal of investing around US$7.8 billion in a new cargo terminal at the port, which was initially proposed to address its bottleneck issues, saying that more land is needed, not investment.
Jessie Chung, Chairman of the Hong Kong Container Terminal Operators’ Association, said: “There has been a long-term structural change in the throughput handled in the port of Hong Kong, with a lot higher volumes of barge traffic and transhipment between ocean going vessels, while the truck segment has been shrinking.
“Our priority recommendation to the government is an optimal use of the existing land sites adjacent to the port areas capable of increasing container storage capacity and also constructing additional barge berths.”
The Port of Hong Kong recently caused uproar by adopting the new 0.5% sulphur cap as a way of controlling emissions at its port. This sparked a dispute as to who would be footing the bill for this sulphur cap.
Despite falls in container volumes, the Port of Hong Kong is the fourth busiest port in the world, having handled more than 22 million TEU in 2013.
China’s ports are expected to experience a phase of mega-growth between now and 2030, with annual throughput anticipated to rise to as much as 6% year-on-year.
(Source: JOC)
