INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS
Hong Kong Port and Maritime Board
The Hong Kong Port and Maritime Board, formerly known as the Port Development Board, is a non-statutory body with members appointed by the Chief Executive.
Hong Kong is one of the few major international ports in the world without a port authority and where port facilities are fully privately owned and operated. Mushrooming growth in trade in the 1980s made it clear that a long-term port development strategy was needed and that huge future port projects would need careful co-ordination. With this in mind, the Port Development Board was formed in 1990 to advise the Government on all aspects of port planning and development.
The board conducts port cargo forecasts and assesses port development needs in the light of changing demand, port capacity, productivity, performance and competition both locally and regionally. It recommends strategies for planning new port facilities. and brings together government and private sector involvement in the formulation of advice on their development.
Other than the port, Hong Kong has a successful shipping industry with many well known and experienced shipowners, ship management companies and companies. providing, for example, ship finance and insurance. To build on this strength and promote synergy between the port, shipping and shipping-related industries, the Government is committed to promoting a better business environment through simplifying procedures and reduction of costs to facilitate the operation of the shipping industry in Hong Kong. To this end, the Port Development Board was reorganised and renamed the Hong Kong Port and Maritime Board in June 1998 to take on the new task of promoting the Hong Kong shipping industry and developing Hong Kong into an international shipping centre.
A consultancy study on Port Back-up Facilities and Land Requirements was conducted in 1999 to assess the productivity of the existing and new container terminals, examine the provision of port back-up facilities in Hong Kong, and recommend policy and planning changes to ensure that adequate land would be provided to meet the anticipated demand for port back-up uses.
Proposals put forward by the board to make the Hong Kong Shipping Register more competitive were accepted by the Government and implemented. Improvements introduced included reduced fees and a simplified but still rigorous survey cycle that would again lower costs while maintaining Hong Kong's reputation as a quality register. Since the measures were announced in the Budget in March, 97 sea-going cargo ships of 2.49 million gross registered tons have been registered in Hong Kong, boosting the tonnage to 8.34 million tons.
During the year, the board conducted a number of seminars and briefings for shipowners, shipping and shipping-related companies and Classification Societies in Hong Kong. In September, the Secretary for Economic Services led board members on a promotional tour to New York, London and Rotterdam where they attended conferences and met senior government officials and key shipping people to appraise them of the attractiveness of Hong Kong as an international shipping centre.
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