Hong Kong will not suffer from a shortage of container handling capacity in the next decade and building new terminals will not ease harbour congestion by decreasing demand for 'archaic' mid-stream services, according to Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) group managing director John Meredith.
Mr Meredith said mid-stream operators were not staying in business just because Hong Kong's main terminals were increasingly capacity constrained, a claim made earlier this week by Port and Maritime Board (PMB) chairman Sir Gordon Wu Ying-sheung.
He said the mid-stream provided an 'economy class' alternative to the 'business class' services provided by HPH subsidiary Hongkong International Terminals (HIT) and its competitors at Kwai Chung.
'It has absolutely nothing to do with how many ships we handle every day or every month, or how many berths we have. [Vessels using the mid-stream services] are out there because it is cheaper,' Mr Meredith said.
Sir Gordon has been an unflinching critic of the mid-stream, where 3.01 million teu (20-foot equivalent units) were handled last year, and the public cargo working areas, which he calls 'archaic' and a blight on the harbour.
Sir Gordon slammed demand-driven bureaucrats who hid behind consultancy reports. He urged the Government to take a radical stance and build supply to stimulate demand, saying Hong Kong's future as the premier gateway for south China trade was being endangered by their inaction. But Mr Meredith said building infrastructure did not stimulate demand for cargo.
'It is a fallacy that when you build terminals it automatically results in more cargo going through the port. That is fundamentally wrong, in fact it's the other way around,' he said.
