On the 24th of November, at the conference on “Opportunities and Challenges for the Hong Kong Port in the 13th Five-Year Plan,” Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-Leung (張炳良), noted that while Hong Kong remains competitive in the global shipping industry, its position as world-leader has already been surpassed by Singapore, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Ningbo. Furthermore, in terms of throughout, it is now being closely followed by Busan and South Korea. The conference showcased a house of industry leaders and academics engaging on how to cope with increasing unfavourable conditions.

Hong Kong handled 20.1 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) of containers in 2015, compared with 24.2 million for Shenzhen, 30.9 million in Singapore and 36.5 million for Shanghai. The first half of 2016 saw a 10% drop and the downward slope appears to be unalterable.

The major issue for Hong Kong is that as China continues to relax its shipping policy to allow foreign vessels to load and unload cargoes along its coast, the city is losing its role as a transhipment point for goods to and from the mainland, which accounted for about a quarter of laden container movements in Hong Kong in 2015. Ports in Shanghai and Shenzhen, for example, are more efficient, more spacious, less costly and have deeper bays to park new mega-ships.

In response, the Hong Kong government has deepened its channel to 17.5 metres from 15 metres and is looking into measures to enhance the use of port back-up land at the Kwai Tsing Container Terminals (KTCTs).

Rest at http://harbourtimes.com/2016/11/25/port-in-hong-kong-the-blue-economy-turning-blue/