Motion on ” Promoting cooperation between Guangdong and Hong Kong and consolidating Hong Kong’s position as an international maritime centre”
Deputy President, Hong Kong has a long maritime development history. As one of the integral parts, maritime services are of huge significance to our economic and social development. In the past, Hong Kong’s maritime industry maintained a long-standing presence in the international arena. But now, it faces a new competitive environment as the ports in neighbouring regions have attained different levels of development in recent years. I am grateful to Mr YIM Kong for proposing the motion to urge the Government to draw up visionary planning based on past observations and seek cooperation in competition and self-enhancement in cooperation, so as to consolidate Hong Kong’s status as an international maritime centre (“IMC”).
Deputy President, during the times when I took part in banking projects and corporate bank loans (i.e. from 1987 to 2004), Hong Kong’s container port ranked first in the world most of the time. However, the ports in the Greater Bay Area (“GBA”) have been developing actively in recent years, and the competition among various ports is very fierce due to their geographical proximity and same cargo sources. In 2023, Hong Kong ranked 10th in the global container port ranking, while Shenzhen in the neighbouring region ranked fourth. Compared to the previous year, the ranking of Hong Kong slipped, but that of Shenzhen remained unchanged.
As a prominent transhipment hub in Asia, Hong Kong’s competitive advantages lie in its free port status, efficient customs clearance, highly efficient operation and strong international connectivity, particularly well-versed in handling high-value and time-critical goods. Each port in GBA has its own characteristics and strengths, and terminal businesses in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong are not quite the same. Under the principle of achieving a win-win situation through complementary cooperation, I believe this can drive the synergistic development of the GBA port cluster, enhance the resource allocation capability of the GBA port cluster and agglomerate a radiation effect. At present, various local governments provide different levels of maritime subsidies. The SAR Government should strengthen coordination with the Mainland to avoid vicious competition marked by price-slashing among GBA ports due to local government subsidies.
However, “to forge iron, one must be strong”. Apart from cooperation, Hong Kong must also place emphasis on self-improvement and self-reliance for better development.
“Digital” and “green” nowadays are the two main themes of global development, so the construction of “smart ports” and “green ports” is an important measure to enhance the competitiveness of a port. The SAR Government has released the Action Plan on Maritime and Port Development Strategy, which aims to turn Hong Kong into a high-quality green fuel bunkering centre. The Government should encourage local and international technology companies in Hong Kong to apply technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and blockchain in daily shipping management, enhance the overall operational efficiency of local terminals, and reduce the operating costs and risks faced by merchant fleets and enterprises.
Multimodal transport is considered to be the most effective mode of transport service in the world. Only when the waterborne economic corridor is combined with land and air transport can the radiation effect be amplified. The upgrading and efficiency improvement of boundary control points makes the road transport between Hong Kong and GBA cities more convenient; the continuous extension of the high-speed rail makes Hong Kong more closely connected with Mainland cities; and the continuous development of our international airport enables Hong Kong to maintain its openness to and integration with the outside world. I believe that Hong Kong’s maritime industry will have greater competitiveness in view of the joint development of our air, land and sea transport, as well as collaboration with the Mainland and overseas places.
As a representative of the financial sector, I suggest that the Government should actively enhance the existing maritime infrastructure by capitalizing on Hong Kong’s strengths in finance. Hong Kong’s long history of maritime development has given rise to its comprehensive maritime service regime, with relatively well-established maritime business services as well. As long as we can continue to make good use of the existing diversified service capabilities of the financial sector, step up our efforts in developing maritime finance and promote the integration of maritime financial facility and maritime resources, we should be able to further magnify the value of maritime transport.
Deputy President, the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the National 14th Five-Year Plan have both mentioned that Hong Kong has to consolidate and enhance its status as an IMC. I believe that in the context of the SAR Government’s planning efforts and its active promotion of Guangdong-Hong Kong cooperation, Hong Kong’s international maritime industry will definitely take another giant leap forward.
I support Mr YIM Kong’s original motion and Mrs Regina IP’s amendment. Thank you.