Container terminals in Hong Kong face ever-growing threats from across the border, as robust port expansion on the mainland promises to spark a new round of price wars and further blunt the city's edge in the contest for price-sensitive sea cargoes, major logistics players say.
Gone are the rosy days when Hong Kong was China's only sea cargo gateway.
Statistics from the Port Development Council have shown that Hong Kong handled 22.6 million 20-foot equivalent units (teus) last year, a 2 per cent rise from 2004. But Hong Kong Container Terminal Association chairman Alan Lee Yiu-kwong says it is not as good as it seems.
'You may think 2 per cent of 22.6 million teus is quite a lot, but it's all a statistical game. Most of the growth comes from transshipment cargo, which involves double counting of the same container. Our share in direct shipment cargo - the real money-spinner - is on the downturn,' he said.
Transshipment cargoes are goods that transit through Hong Kong, while direct cargoes are processed in the city's container yards before shipping out. The latter generates at least double the revenue of the former.
Last year, 20.9 tonnes of ocean cargo passed through Guangzhou and Shenzhen, an increase of 42.4 and 19.1 per cent, respectively, over the previous year. Hong Kong's share of growth has been shrinking.
But Mr Lee was optimistic. 'Altogether, the two places generated a total of 40 million teus a year,' he said.