XN000022-1996-03-28 — Page 5

He added: "Shippers are also attracted to Hong K e because of our straight forward and transparent Customs formalities. These reduc he risk of goods being delayed as a result of any bureaucracy which may arise. As somewhat more user friendly than mainland ports."

port, Hong Kong is

Reviewing the developing ports in China, Mr Clark said that, o.+he east China ports, Shanghai was in the best geographical position. It was at the i-point of China's east coast and close to large manufacturing centres in Zhejiang and Jiangsu Provinces. There was a large cargo base in and around Shanghai itself.

He said that Shanghai was upgrading its existing container facilities. Phase One of these improvements would bring its total capacity up to three million TEUS by fae end of the century. Phase Two, to be completed in 2010 would increase capacity to between eight and 10 million TEUS.

Mr Clark added that while Shanghai was a river port and presently restricted by shallow approaches, Ningbo, some 120 kilometres south of Shanghai, had deep water and enormous potential for the future.

He added: "Xiamen, a small port in Fujian Province, is in a good position to benefit from direct trade links between the mainland and Taiwan. It could divert a substantial volume of Taiwan related cargo from Hong Kong. However, such diversion will have marginal effect on Hong Kong's total throughput.

"At present the eastern Chinese ports seem most likely to function as feeder ports transhipping to Taiwan, Korea and Japan."

He told the conference: "Indications from manufacturers and growth projections for eastern and central China show that the area served by the ports is likely to grow faster than Guangdong in the next 20 years. This area already accounts for 25 per cent of China's total export cargo.

"This high rate of growth may be more than the local ports can handle. So, Hong Kong could still experience some cargo growth from this region."

Turning to the north China ports, Mr Clark said that Tianjin and Dalian had the most extensive facilities for handling export cargo. Dalian was a deep water port and unrestricted by draft, but Tianjin, was likely to handle smaller vessels. These would primarily provide feeder services to hubs in Japan and Korea.

Qingdao and Yantai had more modest facilities that were best suited to handle feeder cargo to larger nearby ports and to Japan and Korea. There were plans for additional container berths at both these ports and for the installation of post-Panamax gantry cranes.