THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 1987
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HK NOW THE WORLD'S SECOND BUSIEST CONTAINER PORT
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HONG KONG HAS FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER OVERTAKEN NEW YORK AS THE WORLD'S SECOND BUSIEST CONTAINER PORT AFTER ROTTERDAM.
ACCORDING TO RECENTLY RELEASED FIGURES, THE PORT OF NEW YORK HANDLED 2 340 000 TEU'S (TWENTY-FOOT EQUIVALENT UNITS) IN 1986, REPRESENTING A DECLINE OF 27 000 TEU'S (OR 1.14 PER CENT) FROM THE PREVIOUS YEAR.
IN COMPARISON, HONG KONG, HANDLED 2 774 025 TEU'S LAST YEAR, AN INCREASE OF 485 072 TEU'S (OR 21 PER CENT) OVER 1985.
COMMENTING ON THE FIGURES, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF MARINE, MR BERNARD TANG, SAID TODAY (THURSDAY) THAT HONG KONG'S CONTAINER THROUGHPUT WAS MADE MORE REMARKABLE BY THE FACT THAT KWAI CHUNG TERMINALS HAD AN AREA OF ONLY SOME 103 HECTARES WITH JUST FIVE TERMINALS.
+SPACE IS STRETCHED TO ITS LIMITS FOR BOTH LOADING AND UNLOADING AS WELL AS STORING CONTAINERS, HE ADDED,
MR TANG POINTED OUT THAT SOME 500 000 TEU'S OF HONG KONG'S TOTAL CONTAINER THROUGHPUT LAST YEAR WERE HANDLED IN MID STREAM. +DESPITE THE LARGE VOLUME OF CONTAINER TRAFFIC, THE TRADITIONAL CARGO HANDLING FROM MID-STREAM CONTINUED TO PLAY A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN HONG KONG, HE SAID.
WHILE LAST YEAR'S PHENOMENAL GROWTH RATE OF 21 PER CENT WAS NOT EXPECTED TO BE MAINTAINED, THE GOVERNMENT WAS ALREADY PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE, USING AN AVERAGE NINE PER CENT GROWTH RATE PER YEAR, HE SAID.
AT THE MOMENT A SIXTH TERMINAL IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION AT KWAI CHUNG BY THE PRIVATE SECTOR AT A COST OF ABOUT HKD2 BILLION. +WHEN COMPLETED IN LATE 1989, IT WILL PROVIDE A FURTHER 28 HECTARES OF LAND AT KWAI CHUNG.+
+PLANNING IS ALSO UNDERWAY FOR TERMINAL SEVEN WHICH WILL EVENTUALLY ADD ANOTHER 32 HECTARES OF SPACE TO THE PORT.+ HE SAID. +TENDERS ARE EXPECTED TO BE INVITED LATER THIS YEAR AND CONTRACTS SHOULD BE LET IN MARCH 1988.+
TERMINAL SEVEN IS EXPECTED TO BE IN OPERATION BY 1992. THAT TIME HONG KONG'S TOTAL CONTAINER HANDLING CAPACITY WILL BE BOOSTED TO ABOUT 3.5 MILLION TEU'S, STRONGLY CHALLENGING ROTTERDAM'S POSITION AS THE WORLD'S BUSIEST CONTAINER PORT,+ SAID MR TANG.
+
+ BY
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