CONTAINER Terminal 9 (CT9) is more important than CT10 or CT11 because of its massive back-up land for stacking containers.
Port Development secretary Tony Clark said the valuable back-up land - part of 60 hectares allocated for parking, storage and for industrial use - was expected to container truck movement on the Tuen Mun highway.
Thousands of empty boxes are brought to Tuen Mun and Yuen Long for storage on unused agricultural land, creating an eyesore.
Hong Kong, the world's busiest container port, is estimated to have handled a record 12.5 million teus (20-foot equivalent units) last year, up by 13.12 per cent on 1994's 11.05 million.
'Another huge benefit is that containers sent to CT9 will not have to go through the toll-paying bridge that other boxes would have to go through to reach CT10 and CT11,' Mr Clark said.
Most of the Government's energies were concentrated on CT9 because it was not only a valuable asset in Kwai Chung but it could share all existing port services, he said.