Hongkong Port Research Paper

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Thus, a port city is the state of equilibrium or balance between the general city and the global port in terms of size and likewise a difference in function between them. This emphasizes the reality that few port cities might be considered city ports because of the recurrent imbalances between these two main placements. (Hoyle and Pinder 1981, 1992)

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The Freight Network

The government of Hong Kong does not have a formal port authority that provides and controls port infrastructure. Only the government of Marine Department is responsible for safe movement of vessels and passengers and safety matters in the Port of Hong Kong. Therefore, most of the facilities in the Port of Hong Kong are owned and operated by private companies. (World Port Source, 2015) High quality infrastructure is essential to the efficient operations in Hong Kong port.

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Freight Infrastructure

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Container Terminals

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Fig.02: The Kwai Chung and Tsing Yi Container Port (Kwai Tsing Container Port)

Source: Google Maps, 2015

Two container terminals, Kwai Chung and Tsing Yi (Fig.02) are located in the north-western part of the harbour. They contain 9 container terminals with 24 berths measuring 7,694 metres of deep water frontage. The total terminal area covers about 279 hectares of which includes container yards and container freight stations.

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Fig.03: Top 10 container ports in the world in year 2013

Source: Compiled by authors from ports’ official websites and JIFFA (2014)

The total handling capacity of all 9 container terminals have total throughput of more than 20 million TEUs per year as shown in Fig.03 which supports and maintain Hong Kong as a major port of Southern China. (Hong Kong, The Facts, Nov 2014)

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Port Facilities

17 mooring buoys are operated and maintained by the Marine Department for on-going sea vessels where 13 of them are suitable for vessels up to 183 metres in length and for ships up to 137 metres while 9 of them are typhoon mooring buoys to which can withstand and secure ships during tropical storms. (Hong Kong, The Facts, Nov 2014) Therefore, unnecessary movements of vessels are reduced together with its operational costs that improve overall efficiency.

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Connectivity

Hong Kong was only a relay hub for China as the only gateway link to the semi-open Chinese economy with the rest of the world before ‘Open Door Policy’ implemented in 1978. (Tam, 2006)

Since then, the port of Hong Kong has a relatively excellent reputation of high frequency of service, high productivity, short turnaround time and being a port free status. (Galbraith, Curry, Loh, 2008) This lured exporters and importers around the world to select Hong Kong as the country to use its ports services and run their trade business. Currently, 380 liner services arrive at Hong Kong Port per week, connecting to approximately 550 destinations worldwide. (HKPDC 2013)

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Hub-and-Spoke

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Fig.04: International Transhipment Throughput at HKP

Source: Transport and Housing Bureau

Over the last 10 years, Hong Kong operates increasing transhipment cargo via hub-and-spoke shipping procedures carried out at the port. The port has boosted its role as a growing transhipment hub (Fig.04) by serving larger number of supply chains with numerous destinations in East Asia (Lam and Yap 2011a)

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Freight Corridors/hubs

Hong Kong’s logistics hub status is in the process of transforming from a freight transport port city to a global supply chain hub management centre. (Wang and Cheng 2010)

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Future business Prospects

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Fig.05: Structure of the Ten Major Infrastructure Project

Source: A Bridge Too Far: Bridge to China Threatens the Future of Hong Kong, 2012

Since Hong Kong is a neighboring country of China, they are always trying to find new means and methods for Chinese cargos and transport movement through cross-border efficiently. Therefore, with current developing technology, Hong Kong has been planning to construct road links with mainland China by implementing the ‘Ten Major Infrastructure Project’ set up by the government. (Kim, 2011) Their goal and purpose are to further strengthen the transportation network through corridor constructions between Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Macau shown in fig. 05.

Road constructions have already begun in 2009 and are expected to be completed in year 2016. Once these roads are completed, they will connect Shenzhen’s Bay Bridge and Kong Sham’s Western Highway correspondingly. Hong Kong and Southern China then can be connected with one ring road surrounding Pearl River Delta. The improved connectivity will no doubt open up new consumer markets and expand cargo hinterland, thus bringing new incentive for freight and logistics sectors in the future to come.

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Comparative and Competitive Advantages

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Geographical Location

Hong Kong is strategically located, both relatively to China and the neighboring Asian countries. It is situated at the gateway of the Pearl River Delta and at the center of the Asia-Pacific Rim where economy is growing at a fast speed. Moreover, it is the junction of two different types of maritime transport of ocean-going vessels and the coastal and river trade craft which is the only up-to-date and fully established deep water hub between Singapore and Shanghai. (Chou, Chu, Liang, October 2003)

More than one-third of the multinational firms active in Asia-Pacific