Greater bay will lift HK’s shipping hub status: CS

Hong Kong will strengthen its global shipping and logistics center status with opportunities brought by the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development plan, the city’s secondmost senior official said on Sunday.

Chief Secretary for Administration Matthew Cheung Kin-chung made the remark in his weekly blog after attending an event during the Hong Kong Maritime Week last week.

Housing the world’s biggest cluster of container ports and airports, the greater bay has the potential to become the largest shipping and logistics hub globally, he said.

As an international shipping center, Hong Kong should seek new opportunities in providing high valueadded maritime transport services, Cheung said. He said the city is familiar with the operation and rules-making process of international trade. A large number of shipping industry professionals and their global network make it possible for the city to expand in the international market with the cooperation with other cities in the greater bay area.

In line with Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s maiden Policy Address, the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau will set up a Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area Development Office to promote the construction of projects in the area and collaborate with commerce chambers, professional services sectors and various stakeholders.

The Steering Committee on Co-operation with the Mainland, chaired by Cheung, will be renamed the Steering Committee on Taking Forward Bay Area Development and Mainland Co-operation to carry out

As an international shipping center, Hong Kong should seek new opportunities in providing high value-added maritime transport services.” Matthew Cheung Kin-chung,

tasks related to the greater bay development more effectively.

At the same time, the nation’s 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) has provided full support to Hong Kong in leveraging the city’s unique advantages to enhance its international financial, transportation and trade center status. It also stressed support for the SAR to promote highend financial services, commerce and trade, logistics and professional services, Cheung wrote.

He urged Hong Kong’s shipping industry players and counterparts from other cities in the greater bay area to cooperate and complement each other in the global competition. By doing so, Hong Kong will become a worldclass shipping and logistics center.

Hong Kong is currently the world’s fifth-busiest port, with last year’s container throughput reaching nearly 20 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), according to government statistics.

The city has more than 800 shipping services companies, and owns or manages 9.6 percent of the world’s commercial vessels, according to Cheung.