XN000022-1977-01-07 — Page 3

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FRIDAY, JANUARY 7, 1977

FEES STRUCTURE FOR PUBLIC CARGO WORKING AREAS REVISED ******

A REVISED FEES STRUCTURE WILL BE INTRODUCED AT ALL PUBLIC CARGO WORKING AREAS AND PUBLIC WATERFRONTS RUN BY THE MARINE DEPARTMENT AS FROM TOMORROW (JANUARY 8), IT WAS ANNOUNCED IN THE GAZETTE TODAY.

THIS STEMS FROM A REVIEW OF THE OPERATION OF THE WAN CHAI PUBLIC CARGO WORKING AREA, THE FIRST PURPOSE-BUILT CARGO WORK ING AREA OPERATED UNDER GOVERNMENT SUPERVISION.

A SPOKESMAN FOR THE MARINE DEPARTMENT SAID THAT THE NEW FEES STRUCTURE WOULD MAKE PROVISIONS FOR NEW SERVICES TO BE INTRODUCED AT PUBLIC CARGO WORKING AREAS AND WOULD ALSO HELP RECOVER THE COST OF SETTING UP AND OPERATING PUBLIC CARGO WORKING AREAS AND PUBLIC WATERFRONTS.

ACCORDING TO THE NEW FEES STRUCTURE, BERTHING FEES FOR CARGO VESSELS WILL BE BASED ON THE LENGTH OF SEAWALL OCCUPIED. THE SEAWALL AT PUBLIC CARGO HANDLING AREAS AND PUBLIC WATERFRONTS WILL BE DIVIDED INTO A NUMBER OF UNIT BERTHS EACH EIGHT METRES

IN LENGTH. THE NEW BERTHING FEES WILL BE $10 A DAY FOR THE FIRST EIGHT METRES OF WATERFRONT OCCUPIED WITH A FURTHER CHARGE AT $5 A DAY FOR EACH ADDITIONAL EIGHT METRES.

FORMERLY, DUMB STEEL LIGHTERS WHICH OCCUPY THREE OR FOUR TIMES AS MUCH SPACE AS MOTOR CARGO BOATS PAID THE SAME FEE OF $10 PER DAY AS THE LATTER. THEREFORE, THE MOTOR CARGO BOATS WHICH HAVE CORRESPONDINGLY LESS EARNING POWER TENDED TO SUBSIDIZE THE DUMB STEEL LIGHTERS.

THE SPOKESMAN SAID THAT THE NEW FEE STRUCTURE WOULD MEAN THAT FEES IN RESPECT OF A MOTOR CARGO BOAT BERTHING END ON TO THE SEAWALL TO WORK WOULD NOT BE INCREASED.

+FEES FOR DUMB STEEL LIGHTERS MAY BE INCREASED DEPENDING ON THE LENGTH OF SEAWALL THEY OCCUPY, BUT THIS WILL NOT HAVE ANY SIGNIFICANT EFFECT ON THEIR OVERALL OPERATING COSTS, HE SAID. +IT IS ESTIMATED THAT THE NEW FEES WOULD ONLY RAISE THE OPERATING COST BY ABOUT $0.04 PER CAPACITY TON OR ROUGHLY 0.4 PER CENT OF THE DAILY HIRE CHARGES OF A LIGHTER,+

+THIS IS AN INSIGNIFICANT AMOUNT PARTICULARLY IN VIEW OF THE MORE EFFICIENT CARGO WORKING ACHIEVABLE AT PUBLIC CARGO WORKING AREAS AND PUBLIC WATERFRONTS WHEN COMPARED WITH THE UNCONTROLLED WATERFRONTS, THE SPOKESMAN ADDED.

ONE OF THE NEW SERVICES TO BE INTRODUCED IS TO PROVIDE PARKING FACILITIES WITHIN PUBLIC CARGO WORKING AREAS FOR NON-WORK ING GOODS VEHICLES. THIS IS CONSIDERED DESIRABLE BECAUSE IT CAN MAXIMISE THE USE OF PARKING SPACES WITHIN PUBLIC CARGO WORKING AREAS AND AT THE SAME TIME MAKE AVAILABLE A RESERVE OF VEHICLES FOR IMMEDIATE HIRE WITHIN THE AREAS WHICH WILL TEND TO EXPEDITE CARGO HANDLING.

/FORMERLY,