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Effect of Kaohsiung off-shore transhipment centre on HK
Following is a question by the Hon Henry Tang Ying-yen and a written reply by the acting Secretary for Economic Services, Mrs Elizabeth Bosher, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Question:
It is learnt that Taiwan plans to set up an off-shore transhipment centre at Kaohsiung before 1997. In this regard, will the Government inform this Council whether it will evaluate the effect of such a plan on the air services, shipping trade and tourism of the territory; if so, how the evaluation will be conducted?
Answer:
Mr President,
The Kaohsiung centre is apparently designed to cater for shipping, rather than air, links with the mainland; hence the impact on air services should be minimal. We see little potential impact on Hong Kong's tourism industry.
In regard to shipping, the Port Development Board Secretariat has carried out a preliminary evaluation of the possible effect on Hong Kong. The result of this evaluation is that we expect the centre to have a relatively small impact on overall port throughput. Specifically we estimate a 1.1% reduction in the growth of port traffic in the period 1994-96, and 0.7% in the period 1996-2001. On the other hand, there is also potential for an overall expansion in trade between Taiwan and the mainland as a result of the centre's establishment; some of this trade for reasons of price, service quality or convenience is likely to flow through Hong Kong and would tend to offset any reduction in port traffic.
Our estimates of the effect of the transhipment centre on Hong Kong will be kept under review as more information on its development becomes available.
End/Wednesday, March 22, 1995