Hong Kong can Handle Mega Container Ships

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, December 27, 2002

Hong Kong can Handle Mega Container Ships

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Hong Kong is capable of receiving the next generation of container vessels, with the alongside water depths of one of its key ports now adequate to meet navigational requirements of large container ships, a spokesman for the Marine Department said Thursday.

A study conducted by the department showed that Hong Kong's Kwai Chung port is able to serve not only large container ships currently in service, but also those expected to be in operation within the next few years, the spokesman said.

"As for future five-digit container ships, ... there is a need to regularly review their development in terms of physical dimensions so that dredging can be planned in good time to meet their operational conditions," he said.

The future five-digit container ships are expected to account for a small percentage of the total container ships calling at Hong Kong based on the current distribution of large container ships visiting Hong Kong, according to the spokesman.

The study was initiated with a view to finding out exactly whether Hong Kong could handle container ships, which were increasingly becoming larger, the spokesman noted.

It also assessed global development of the container trade, current trend of world fleet of container vessels and their implications for Hong Kong up to 2011 as well as the latest distribution in container ship sizes visiting Hong Kong.

The study found that the trend towards larger container ships to achieve better economies of scale and to lower operating costs would continue, with indications that a sizable fleet of 10,000 to12,000 TEU (20-ft equivalent unit) ships would come on stream between 2005 and 2010. But it was "uncertain at present" regardingthe advent of ships of 15,000 TEUs or more.

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