Kwai Tsing container port 'outdated' and should be moved, study claims

To remain a competitive global logistics hub in the long term, Hong Kong needs to relocate the container terminals from Kwai Tsing to another part of the city, according to a think tank report released yesterday.

The study, jointly published by the think tank SD Advocates, Chinese University and consultancy firm BMT Asia Pacific, said the terminals, opened more than 40 years ago, were outdated because they were designed for direct cargo to and from the city.

"But over 65 per cent of cargo at the terminals now is transshipment, resulting in increased inter-terminal movement," the report said.

An academic said Lung Kwu Tan, near Tuen Mun, and Lantau Island were both possible locations for a new port.

The report came just over a month after the government announced it would not build a 10th container terminal in southwest Tsing Yi. A Transport Bureau spokesman said at the time that the project "is not viable financially or economically" even though it was technically feasible.

The bureau added that adopting extra measures ought to be enough for the existing terminals to handle future growth.

But in a conference on the sustainable development of the logistics industry, Andy Tung, chief executive officer of one of the world's largest international container transportation companies Orient Overseas Container Line, said the efficiency of the Kwai Tsing port had already reached a bottleneck.