Strike a threat to port's status, industry says
Vessels are already diverting to rival terminals, shippers say, and city continues to slide down the ranks of world's leading container terminals
The strike at the Kwai Tsing terminals could further jeopardise Hong Kong's ranking among the world's leading container ports, according to shippers and an industry spokesman.
Mainland rivals are already putting pressure on the city, with Shenzhen overtaking Hong Kong as the world's third-busiest port. In a move that will further boost its standing, the Hong Kong Shippers' Council yesterday advised operators and freight forwarders to divert cargo to Shenzhen if the strike at Kwai Tsing continued.
Council chairman Willy Lin Sun-mo said: "If this drags on, shippers have to look at other ports including Shenzhen and [Guangzhou]. If the strike continues, it will have a very negative impact on Hong Kong as a logistics centre."
In the first two months of this year - before the strike began last Thursday - container throughput at Shenzhen increased 6 per cent to 3.53 million 20ft equivalent units (TEUs), the standard size of a container. Meanwhile, Hong Kong's tally fell 4.3 per cent to 3.48 million TEUs, making it the fourth busiest port.
Yesterday evening, about 450 dockers and hundreds of supporters gathered outside the Kwai Tsing container terminals to push their demand for a 17 per cent pay rise.
Gerry Yim Lui-fai, managing director of Hongkong International Terminals (HIT), which is controlled by Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong's richest man, said his company was losing HK$5 million a day because of the strike.