The Hong Kong Government is reviving old plans for a 10th container terminal in response to the loss of cargo to adjacent Shenzhen in mainland China, but against the wishes of the local container industry, reports The South China Morning Post.
Opposing the scheme to build another container terminal by 2015, are the Hong Kong's five terminal operators - Modern Terminals, Hong Kong International Terminals (HIT), Cosco-HIT, DP World and Asia Container Terminals that run the nine container handling facilities.
Hutchison Whampoa chairman Li Ka-shing, who says Shenzhen's volume will surpass Hong Kong's in four years, insists a new terminal is not be needed here for 20 years at least.
The Hong Kong Container Terminal Operators Association back him, saying the government proposes to increase supply before there was demand to absorb it. The government view is that a new terminal would bring more competition and reduce costs, thus inducing carriers to use Hong Kong more.
But the industry association chairman Alan Lee said: "The 24 berths in Kwai Chung terminal handled only 17 million TEUs from ocean vessels last year, far short of its maximum capacity of 25 to 27 million TEUs."
Mr Lee also dismissed the government's stated intention of bringing down terminal operating costs, saying operators' profit margins had been thinning over the years.
Port operators and shipping companies have been blamed for Hong Kong's shrinking competitiveness in port cargo transport because their charges per container are US$100 higher than those on the mainland.
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