Entitled “Development of Hong Kong Shipping Registry and logistics opportunities associated with the Greater Bay Area”, the hybrid-mode event attracted over 100 in-person and online participants.
Addressing the audience in a virtual keynote speech Mr Lam Sai-hung, reminded the Singapore audience that Hong Kong is one of the world's busiest transhipment container ports, serving some 270 container ship services a week and connecting to over 600 destinations worldwide. Despite port congestion worldwide, the city's port throughput stood at close to 18m teu in 2021.
“Despite the prolonged impact of the pandemic and international trade disputes, air cargo services at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) remain resilient. We moved around 5m tonnes of cargo in 2021, representing a rise of around 13% as compared to the 2020 figure,” he added.
Mr Lam cited a wide range of measures taken by the authorities to further advance the maritime and logistics sectors, including smart port and green port initiatives to support port development and improve port efficiency.
“We also foster high value-added maritime services, including ship registration, ship finance, ship management, marine insurance, and maritime legal and arbitration services,” he added. To this end, new tax concessions for ship agents, ship managers and ship brokers were introduced by the relevant authorities last month to encourage them to use Hong Kong as a base to grow their businesses.
“To enhance services for owners of Hong Kong-registered ships residing abroad, we have set up Regional Desks of the Hong Kong Shipping Registry (HKSR) in seven cities around the world, including the Singapore Regional Desk which was set up in 2020,” he said.
On the logistics front, to take forward the development of intermodal transhipment within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to facilitate the flow of goods within the region, the HKIA Logistics Park will be established in Dongguan port. HKIA's three-runway system, expected to be commissioned in 2024, will also boost the city's cargo handling capacity to 10m tonnes annually, he added.
Mr Lam's speech was followed by presentations by the Head (Transport, Infrastructure and Advanced Manufacturing) of Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK), Mr Benjamin Wong; the Regional Head (Singapore), HKSR, Marine Department, Mr Philip Ho; and the Chairman of the Promotion Sub-committee under the Hong Kong Maritime Arbitration Group (HKMAG), Captain Lee Fook-choon. They briefed the audience on different topics, including opportunities offered by Hong Kong's shipping and logistics sectors for businesses in ASEAN; support rendered by the HKSR for owners of Hong Kong-registered ships residing in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and India; and the advantages of using Hong Kong as the seat for maritime arbitration.
Several industry players then joined the three speakers in a panel to discuss their experiences of using Hong Kong as a platform to grow their businesses. They were the Deputy Chief Financial Officer of Orient Overseas Container Line, Mr Michael Fitzgerald; the Executive Director, Global Business Development of LF Logistics, Mr Simon Oxley; and the Chief Executive and General Manager of China Merchants Insurance Co Ltd, Ms Sigorney Lau.
Co-organised with InvestHK, the Marine Department and the HKMAG, the business seminar was the ninth event held by the Singapore ETO this year to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the HKSAR.
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