The Court of Final Appeal's decision to uphold the position of the government and restrict the River Trade Terminal (RTT) to serving vessels that ply the river trade brings to an end a six-year saga on Hong Kong's waterfront.
But it may also have shattered what little hope the RTT management had left of achieving the government's mandates when the project was offered up for tender in 1996: to ensure that Hong Kong remains the region's river-trade hub, lessen congestion in the harbour and its access points, and help minimise the environmental impact of the port's commercial activities.
While the decision defends the commercial interests of the main terminal operators, it also keeps more trucks on the road and more traffic in the harbour and through the increasingly dangerous Ma Wan access channel from southern China to the port.
The court held the RTT to the letter of its contractual obligations, but that may have come at the cost of the public good.
Despite the promise of being dedicated to the port's fastest-growing trade sector, the RTT has bled red ink since opening its doors in 1998.
Weighed down by false expectations about the commercial environment in which it would operate, sky-high land premiums and shareholders who can kindly be described as at cross-purposes, it has incurred huge losses, perhaps in the billions.
Its shareholders - which in 1996 comprised original members Jardine Matheson, Sun Hung Kai Properties, Hongkong International Terminals, Cosco Pacific and Bank of China (International) - paid a $1.14 billion land premium for the site's 65 hectares at the height of the market.