Lam Sai-hung: HK port will outshine its neighbors

Transport Secretary Lam Sai-hung said on Saturday (Nov. 16) that he's confident that the shipping industry will prefer Hong Kong's bunkering facilities to those of nearby cities.

He was speaking a day after the authorities unveiled plans to develop the SAR into a high-quality green maritime fuel bunkering center.

The government on Friday announced an action plan on green maritime fuel bunkering, including an aim to switch 55 percent of diesel-fuelled vessels to green maritime fuels by 2026.

Speaking on an RTHK radio program, Lam said the demand for green maritime fuel will gradually increase in line with the target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, and he expects Hong Kong to outperform.

"In terms of traditional fuels, Hong Kong ranked seventh among global fuel bunkering ports. The other two in the GBA were not within the top ten, so we have an advantage," he said.

"Green maritime fuel bunkering is like adding a new type of fuel to a gas station, and green maritime fuel will be more widely used as vessels have to reduce their carbon footprint... This will boost business at our port."

Lam said the government will look into using 11 hectares of land in Tsing Yi to store green methanol.

The director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, Xia Baolong, met Hong Kong government officials together with SAR representatives of the business sector in Shenzhen last week.

The minister said Xia had urged Hong Kong to develop its ports in land, air and sea, and the authorities would consider tax reduction measures to attract more maritime service enterprises to expand their business in the city, strengthening the SAR's status as an international maritime hub.

(Source: RTHK)

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