HONG KONG's critical level of harbour congestion has hastened a government study's recommendations that more land be made available to cope with growing transshipments and the chronic shortage of yard and berth space for barges.
Last year, Hong Kong fell from No 3 to No 4 spot in world port rankings with container volumes falling 3.3 per cent from 2012 to 2013 to 22.4 million TEU. Shenzhen took over Hong Kong's No 3 spot with 23.3 million TEU.
Contained in the "Study on the Strategic Development Plan for Hong Kong Port 2030", released by the Transport and Housing Bureau, are urgent recommendations on upgrading container handling.
"The industry agreed with proposals to provide more backup land and berthing facilities to relieve congestion at the Kwai Tsing container port," a Transport and Housing Bureau spokesman said.
The BMT consultancy report expects Hong Kong box volume to grow 1.5 per cent a year, reaching 31.5 million TEU by 2030, with the growth coming from international transshipments while South China export volumes shrink.
An industry consultation study looking at land utilisation in the port area is expected to be completed by mid-2015.
The Port of Hong Kong's share of South China's exports fell to 40 per cent from 80 per cent in 2001, despite a 75 per cent overall volume increase in the same period.
"As a result of competition from other South China ports, Hong Kong's market share for South China cargo has declined, but the rate of decline is diminishing," said the study's authors.
"However, throughput related to South China is no longer the main driver of growth in Hong Kong's throughput,?they said.
Hong Kong's container terminals have been operating at critical levels of congestion since September as the port struggles to handle the growing levels of transshipment cargo arriving on larger ships that stay in port for longer.
This brings surges of containers. When a ship arrives in a transshipment hub such as Hong Kong, the boxes belong to five or six lines and require thousands of inter-terminal moves to get where they want to go.
CargoSmart data reveals that in the past year, the average arrival delays for vessels with 10,000 TEU is up to 24 hours.
Growing barge traffic contributes to harbour congestion too, with volumes rising 4.1 per cent a year from 2001 to 2011, faster than the 2.8 per cent increase posted for ocean volumes.
River barging is cheaper than trucking into Hong Kong, and with manufacturing shifting to the western bank of the Pearl, exporting boxes by barge is even cheaper than going to Shenzhen.
"Depending on the facilities available, river barges are accommodated at the main berths, and the designated barge berths included in some of the terminals,?the study said.
But the shortage of barge berths was also noted because bigger ships take up more space, leading barging delays.
Yet the BMT study said Hong Kong retained an advantage in terms of lead time because it could generate shorter port stays.
"In the long run, the Pearl River Delta will face increasing upward pressure on labour costs and the pressure of the possible RMB appreciation against the US dollar,?the study found.
"These developments will gradually erode the comparative advantages of ports in the Pearl River Delta and therefore enhance the cost competitiveness of Hong Kong in future," the study said.
PORTS
03 December 2014 - 23:20
Hong Kong study: Port needs more backup land and barge berths to thrive
HONG KONG's critical level of harbour congestion has hastened a government study's recommendations that more land be made available to cope with growing transshipments and the chronic shortage of yard and berth space for barges.
PORTS
03 December 2014 - 23:20
Hong Kong study: Port needs more backup land and barge berths to thrive
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