International Cargo Seaport: Port of Hong Kong

As one of the globe’s most prominent and busiest cargo seaports, the Port of Hong Kong is just as fascinating as its city. With a historic journey and exciting information that can further expand your knowledge about this particular industry, we recommend you to keep reading the article below.

About the Port of Hong Kong

The Kowloon Peninsula, the landform that creates the southern section of the significant landmass in Hong Kong, is home to the Port of Hong Kong. The port has become an important center that provides hundreds of container liner services weekly to over 500 destinations globally in the East and Southeast Asian areas. The port offers the capacity to handle 456,000 ships annually.

The city itself, Hong Kong, is also an economic hub to mainland China and part of the Maritime Silk Road, the sea line connecting Europe, Egypt, Somalia, the Arabian peninsula, the Indian subcontinent, and Southeast Asia. For such a well-connected and busy port, it’s managed by the Government of Hong Kong’s marine department and monitored by the Hong Kong Port Development Council in terms of its development and planning.

A private sector operates, owns, and finances the port, while big companies like Asia Container Terminals (ACT), Dubai Port International Terminals (DPI), COSCO Information & Technology (COSCO), Hongkong International Terminals (HIT), and Modern Terminals (MTL) run the container terminals.

The History

The first three terminals of the Port of Hong Kong were built starting in 1970. The construction of the fourth terminal began four years later, and by 1987, the port had grown immensely with the addition of 4 more terminal points.

A year before 2000, the construction of the River Trade Terminal (RTT), the only cargo port in Hong Kong designated to handle river cargo, was finished in 1999. 2004 saw the commencement of Kwai Chung’s Terminal 9.

More about the Port of Hong Kong

As one of the world’s busiest container ports, the Port of Hong Kong has had outstanding achievements throughout its operation. In 2007 alone, for instance, Hong Kong handled up to 23.9 million TEUs container throughput, an impressive number that enabled them to preserve their position as the world’s busiest container seaports servicing southern China.

That same year, almost half a million ships entered and departed Hong Kong—primarily transporting up to approximately 25 million passengers and 243 million tonnes of cargo. The average turnaround time for cargo ships is roughly 10 hours, with conventional ones operating in mid-stream at anchorages or buoys being 42 and 52 hours, respectively.

Two years later (2009), the port welcomed roughly 205.510 ships, including river-trade and ocean-going vessels. Twenty-one million TEUs of cargo throughput were successfully handled. On the other hand, Tsing Yi and Kwai Chung Container Terminals managed 15.2 million TEUs, followed by wharves and other mid-streams with 5.9 million TEUs. Thanks to this port’s operation, up to 89 percent of Hong Kong’s total cargo traffic is achievable.

In 2020, the port’s cargo throughput was recorded at 17.95 million TEUs. 

We hope the information about the Port of Hong Kong above gives you something new to know! Go ahead and try checking out our other informative port-related articles as well!