Untitled - Civic Exchange

Chapter 6:
Hong Kong's Freight Transport
Transportation and Logistics Hub."
The Master Plan proposed three principal elements:
• Creation of an efficient and integrated logistics platform with sea, air, and land modes of
transportation and the capability for the integral processing of goods.
• Creation of logistics pipelines extending beyond the confines of the HKSAR as part of the PIDN (Port
Inland Distribution Network), which would facilitate the movement of goods to and from Hong Kong
with a focus on both the Pearl River Delta and inland China (Wuhan and Chengdu).
• Provision of the capability for small- to medium-sized business enterprises (SME/MBE), including
trading companies, to participate in the Global Supply Chain and the Virtual Market.
It also proposed six target projects for completion within three years:
• The development of an Integrated Operational Plan, which would define the framework for the
creation of a multimodal logistics platform in Hong Kong and the associated external logistics pipelines.
• The establishment of an Intra-Asian Integrator Hub in Hong Kong with intercontinental capability by
defining the operational and physical (facility and infrastructure) needs and characteristics of such a project.
• The creation of Value Added Logistics Parks, which would enable the efficient processing of goods
as an integral part of a multimodal logistics system. These are to be located on a phased basis at the
airport, Tsing Yi, and Tuen Mun.
• The establishment of a PRD Road - Fast Track Pipeline to facilitate the movement of freight from
select gateways, freight villages, or inland ports within mainland China, with a focus on the Eastern
Pearl River Delta.
• The establishment of a PRD High Speed Boat - Fast Track Pipeline to facilitate the movement of timecritical
freight from the catchment area within the Western Pearl River Delta.
• The establishment of an Inland Logistics Rail Pipeline capitalizing on the Rail Feeder being
developed by the KCRC to the mainland, together with the development of a freight village in Pinghu
and the potential for the operation of inland block trains.
What this means in summary is that Hong Kong should work harder to ensure that substantial amounts of
mainland China's trade pass through Hong Kong. The one wholly new idea introduced in the Master Plan
may be the proposal to establish "logistics parks," which could be places where goods are trans-shipped,
with or without storage, repackaging, and other processes, or the location for external management of
logistics processes elsewhere. Groundbreaking for a logistics center at the airport occurred late in 2001. It
will be a three-storey, 31,400 square meter facility to open in 2003 at a cost of over HK$500 million.
"Logistics," according to one definition, "is the science - and art - of ensuring that the right products reach
the right place in the right quantity at the right time to satisfy customer demand." 219
The Hong Kong government has embraced the idea of "Promoting Hong Kong as a Logistics Centre." This
was the title of a section of the 2001 Policy Address by the Chief Executive, Tung Chee Hwa. The section
included the following statement:
"With Hong Kong's excellent transportation facilities and the PRD's high
productivity, together we can develop into a logistics hub to link the Mainland with
the world. We can promote the development of an inter-modal system and consider
other supporting facilities to speed up the flow of goods and information. The
provision of integrated services will also strengthen Hong Kong's competitive
advantage as a supply-chain base."
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From the Tibbet & Britten Times at .
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