PORT DEVELOPMENT
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Work is already well underway at Terminal 8, which involves the reclamation of 110 hectares of land to the north of Stonecutters Island.
Of the reclaimed land, 48 hectares will house a four-berth terminal while 62 hectares will be used for back-up facilities.
As with Hong Kong's other seven terminals, private companies are designing, building and will operate Terminal 8. The government has awarded development rights to a consortium formed by Modern Terminals Ltd., Hongkong International Terminals Ltd. (the two major terminal operators at Kwai Chung) and mainland Chinese shipping operators.
Construction of Terminal 8 started in October 1991. The first berth should begin operation in mid-1993 and the whole terminal should be completed by the end of 1994.
The government is expected to execute the grant of Terminal 9 early in 1993. The terminal will comprise 60 hectares containing four berths with a total capacity of 1.6 million 20-foot equivalent units a year, the same start up capacity as Terminal 8. A further 26 hectares will be available for back-up purposes and there will be an additional 39 hectares for industrial and community use.
The first berth at Terminal 9 should be operating by mid 1995.
Port Development Board
Hong Kong has never had a Port Authority as port facilities were built and are operated by private companies. But with a development as massive and extensive as the new port there is a need for a co-ordinating body to keep development plans up to date and to act as a link between the private and government bodies involved.
The Port Development Board (PDB) is filling that role. Set up in April 1990, the board has a non-official chairman and advises the Governor, through the Secretary for Economic Services, on all aspects of port planning and development.
Specifically, the PDB's brief is to assess development needs in the light of changing demand, port capacity, productivity and performance. It considers the competitiveness of Hong Kong compared with other major regional ports.
The board recommends strategies for creating new port facilities and co-ordinates government and private sector involvement in developing them. It acts as a focal point for ideas and opinions expressed by port operators or anyone affected by the port expansion.
Among the board's first tasks was to update the forecasts from which consultants had produced plans.
The PDB found that total port traffic should continue to grow by 6.5 per cent a year between 1990 and 2011 when total throughput will reach 284.2 million tonnes. This will include 179.6 million tonnes of inward cargo and 104.7 million tonnes of outward cargo. More than 90 per cent of the cargo will be carried by ocean-going vessels and the rest by river vessels.
Transhipment traffic will account for 21 per cent of the ocean traffic in 2011, a slight increase on the 20 per cent in 1990.
Analysed by commodity, inward cargo in 2006 will consist mainly of coal (30 per cent), petroleum products (21 per cent) and chemical and related products (10 per cent). About 43 per cent of the cargo will be containerised, 34 per cent dry bulk, 21 per cent liquid bulk and two per cent break-bulk.