14
-
The new system will remove the known unfair practices associated with the current system. These unfair practices are:
monopolisation of berths by habitual users, thus preventing a fair access to other operators;
subletting of berths by unlawful means at the expense of government
revenue;
low productivity, and
poor financial return and heavy public subsidy to commercial operators in the PCWAs.
Mr Tang noted that the Marine Department, the Police, the ICAC and the Director of Audit as well as the consultants commissioned by the Marine Department identified the first-come-first-served system together with the low berthing fee structure were the roots to all these problems.
The current charges at $60 per day for an eight-metre unit of seafrontage is grossly below the market value which may be 40 times more than the government charges in some cases.
"This low rate leads to high profit margins which obviously the operators will always try to maintain," Mr Tang said.
A common practice to secure a space is to use an idle barge to occupy a berth. Under the first-come-first-served principle, such a practice is acceptable but this common practice effectively reduces the availability of berthing spaces for genuine users and cuts down productivity of the PCWAS.
"As a result it leads to a significant loss of cargo throughput capacity in the PCWAS," he said, adding that average cargo throughput in the PCWAS is less than one-third of that in similar private terminals.
The annual cargo throughput in the seafront of the PCWAs in 1994 was 1,570 tonnes each metre; the corresponding figures in short-term tenancy sites and mid- stream sites in 1994 was 5,000 and 7,500 respectively.
"According to police reports the existing system is easily subject to triad influence and in some cases the operators may resort to strong arm tactics to monopolise the berthing spaces," Mr Tang said.