TNAG-1054-FCO40-1304-Trade-relations-between-Hong-Kong-and-the-UK-1981 — Page 82

Container Cargo

Over three-fifths of Hong Kong's total exports, and nearly half of its imports, are containerised.

The modern Kwai Chung Container Terminal, in terms of through-put, is the largest in Asia, and the third largest in the world after New York and Rotterdam. Six berths, each with a minimum length of 305 metres (1,000 ft.) with depths alongside of 12 metres (40 ft.), provide an annual handling capacity of 1.5 million T.E.U. (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units).

Efficient operation and management have made possible an average turn-around time of only 211⁄2 hours.

Conventional Cargo

Conventional cargo is efficiently handled at the Government buoys and public and private wharves, which are equipped with modern cargo handling facilities to ensure a rapid turn-around of about three days for a vessel. A number of well-established and efficient transportation companies also provides services in receiving, sorting, storage and delivery of goods.

Air Transport

The Government's Civil Aviation Department is responsible for all civil aviation matters. Full operational services are provided, including air traffic control, telecommunications, air-sea rescue, airport fire services, aeronautical information services, aircraft registration and certification of airworthiness, personnel licensing and, in collaboration with the Royal Observatory, an aeronautical meteorological service.

Hong Kong's International Airport is linked to all parts of the world by 32 international airlines, providing about 900 weekly scheduled passenger and 70 freight services to and from Hong Kong. In addition, there is a significant number of non-scheduled passenger and freight charter flights. About a quarter of our exports leave by air.

To cope with the increasing number of flights, the airport is being expanded to increase the handling capacity to over 5,000 passengers an hour. A computerised air cargo complex, one of the largest in the world, has an area of over 38,000 square metres on two levels, each capable of accommodating 40 trucks simultaneously. The complex can handle over 250,000 tonnes a year, and will be capable of double this amount by the mid-1980s.

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Over six million passengers pass through the airport each year, and more than a quarter of a million tonnes of cargo.

Examples of air freight rates for selected items to major cities are in Table 14.

Telecommunications

All Hong Kong's international telecommunication services are operated by Cable and Wireless Ltd. These include telegrams, telephone, telex, leased telegraph and voice circuits for private communication networks, television via satellite, and data transmission including international Database Access Service and Bureaufax. These services are provided by means of a complex of various systems: coaxial cables, satellite, tropospheric scatter, microwave, HF and VHF radio. The company also operates internal telex-with over 11,000 subscribers---and public telegram services.

Telecommunication services are also provided by the Hong Kong Telephone Co. Ltd., a public company operating under a franchise from the Government.

The telephone system is operated through 64 fully automatic exchanges, and there are over 1.5 million subscribers, or over 30 per 100 population.

Telephone service is provided on a connection charge and monthly rental basis, which includes an unlimited number of free calls within Hong Kong. The connection charge is HK$300 (US$60) and monthly rentals are HK$48 (US$9.60) for business and HK$32 (US$6.40) for residential lines. International calls are charged separately, and direct dialling facilities are available to over 70 countries, while calls to other destinations are easily connected by the company's international operator service.

Above: the computerised air traffic control centre at Hong Kong International Airport which handles over 1,000 flights weekly; right: the computerised air cargo complex can handle 250,000 tonnes a year.