Land rezoning to spur fight for storage space
Small players at risk as Kwai Chung terminal operators seek more sites to place containers
A land rezoning exercise at the Kwai Chung Container Terminal is likely to spark competition for valuable sites among stakeholders and threatens to wipe out the losers.
As Shenzhen steps up its efforts to supplant Hong Kong as the region's transshipment hub, the five local port operators - including Hutchison Whampoa's Hongkong International Terminals and Wharf's Modern Terminals - have also stepped up their lobbying for more backup land at Tsing Yi in order to become more efficient.
While more than 100 hectares of scattered land parcels around the port open for bidding periodically, port operators said the leasing periods of the sites - some as short as three years - had made it impossible for them to spend the millions of dollars of needed to turn them into proper storage areas.
"The surfacing works for an area of between eight and 10 hectares would cost HK$100 million. How is such an investment justified if we can only use the site for three years?" said Gerry Yim, the managing director of HIT.
The Hong Kong Container Terminal Operators' Association, which acts on behalf of the operators, has demanded the government extend the tenancy period of those plots to 10 years.
But Mark Chan Wai-chung, who represents small operators of container depots that store empty or loaded boxes at a cheaper rate than the port, said that could jeopardise their livelihood. "We can't compete with these big players. We could be driven out of business if we can't find land to stack containers for our clients," he said.
