Call to strengthen HK as maritime centre

A coalition of maritime industry groups, including Hong Kong shipowners and seafarers, is calling for the government to establish a policy bureau to strengthen Hong Kong's position as an international maritime centre.

The call is among a package of nine proposals made by the alliance of four organisations to stave off growing competition from Singapore and Shanghai, reported the South China Morning Post.

The alliance, comprising the Hong Kong Shipowners' Association, Hong Kong Seamen's Union, the Institute of Seatransport and the Hong Kong Logistics Management Staff Association, says Hong Kong's status as a maritime centre is declining.

"If the situation does not change, the development of Hong Kong's maritime industry, as well as its economic development and prosperity, will be hampered," the members warn in their proposal.

The measures also include a call for joint government and maritime sector action to "formulate a comprehensive strategy" to develop the maritime sector and further concessions from the mainland government for vessels flying the Hong Kong flag. Ships registered in Hong Kong already enjoy concessionary charges when calling at mainland ports as well as favourable terms when employing mainland crew.

The alliance also wants more money allocated for maritime-related education, saying that Singapore already fully subsidises tuition fees for students taking maritime courses.

"More resources should be allocated to local educational institutions to organise more maritime courses within a shorter time frame to nurture high-quality nautical graduates and maritime professionals for the various maritime service industries."

Doing this may help recruit a younger generation of local maritime professionals, the four alliance members said.

The coalition has invited a further 21 organisations to a meeting on December 7 for discussions to find further ways of developing Hong Kong's maritime sector. The meeting will be one of the largest involving shipping and related organisations for years.

Proposals drawn up by the meeting will then be submitted to the government, while the coalition will also seek a meeting with the Transport and Housing Bureau which oversees the maritime industry.

The event will be the latest attempt to pressure the government to take action to help support Hong Kong's maritime sector since June, when shipping magnate George Chao Sze-kwong made several proposals for government action. These included the creation of a dedicated shipping minister or the upgrading of the Marine Department into a policy bureau.

Pointing to the threat posed by other maritime centres, a discussion paper produced by the alliance said Hong Kong has already dropped to fourth place among the world's busiest container ports behind Shanghai, Singapore and Shenzhen.

"This ranking may drop even further. The issue of finding ways of maintaining and upgrading the status of Hong Kong as an international maritime centre is of the utmost urgency," the paper said.

As a result the four think Hong Kong should find ways to develop maritime-related services such as shipbroking, chartering, ship finance, arbitration and legal services rather than relying on trying to boost cargo and container throughput.

Turning to shipbroking specifically, they said while Hong Kong had a healthy shipbroking community, Shanghai relaxed controls in July, which allowed nine foreign shipbroking houses to register their braches in the city.

While both Singapore and Shanghai were aggressively expanding their positions as international maritime hubs, if Hong Kong continued to do nothing, ultimately it would lose its status as a global maritime centre, the four warned.
(Source:www.cargonewsasia.com)