Kwai Tsing Container Terminal is the most important container logistics processing center in Hong Kong.
From the map, this narrow area surrounded by Tsing Yi, Kwai Chung and Stonecutters Island happens to be located in the geometric center of Hong Kong.
Looking down from a high place, there are many cranes, huge ships coming and going, and densely packed containers, showing the vigorous vitality of Hong Kong's current economic recovery.
The local economy has picked up significantly
"Judging from the departure frequency of trucks, the recovery of the industry in the past two months is very obvious." In the China Merchants Logistics Center Building in Tsing Yi, Kong Xiangzheng, deputy general manager of the asset management department of Sinotrans (Hong Kong) Holdings Co., Ltd., told Reporter, 10 floors of the 13-story logistics center are warehouses, some of which are self-operated and some are rented out. Now, whether it is self-operated or leased, the utilization rate has reached 100%, and the turnover rate of goods in the warehouse has finally increased.
Kong Xiangzheng's first job after joining China Merchants Group was to participate in the bidding for the construction site of China Merchants Logistics Center in Tsing Yi.
Having been engaged in logistics related work for more than ten years, Kong Xiangzheng is very familiar with Tsing Yi.
"It takes less than 20 minutes to drive from us to Hong Kong International Airport, Shenzhen Bay Port, Huanggang Port, or Hong Kong Island." Kong Xiangzheng said that in the past seven or eight years, Tsing Yi has successively built four large logistics centers. The scale effect has been formed, and the prosperity of Hong Kong's economy can be glimpsed from the frequency of trucks coming and going.
In the warehouse on the second floor of the China Merchants Logistics Center, several shelves are filled with hollow plastic rollers containing rolls of fabric of various colors.
"This is a batch of goods that we have had a particularly high business volume recently." Kong Xiangzheng introduced that these fabrics are suit fabrics imported from Italy by a Beijing company.
Affected by the epidemic, the sales of suits were sluggish in the past two years, and the shipment of fabrics continued to shrink.
"After the news of the orderly resumption of customs clearance between the mainland and Hong Kong came out, the shipments of fabrics suddenly increased sharply, and nearly 2,000 orders have been shipped in the past three months." Kong Xiangzheng said.
From the perspective of Sinotrans (Hong Kong) Holdings Co., Ltd.'s self-operated logistics business, in recent months, the logistics operation volume of local consumer products has increased by 50% to 100% year-on-year, and the logistics operation volume of clothing fabrics and catering related industries has increased year-on-year By about 50% to 70%, while the industrial consumer goods side of the construction market has increased by about 20%.
"This shows that Hong Kong's local tourism industry and high-end service industry have picked up significantly." Kong Xiangzheng believes that with the current recovery momentum, by the third and fourth quarters of this year, the company's business volume is expected to return to pre-epidemic levels.
Stable supply of livelihood materials
During the epidemic, the China Merchants Logistics Center used to be an important transit warehouse for anti-epidemic materials aided by the Mainland to Hong Kong, storing about 2,500 cubic meters of anti-epidemic materials.
To this day, in warehouses where every inch of land is expensive, reporters still see many large cardboard boxes with the words "anti-epidemic" on them.
"This is an emergency anti-epidemic material specially reserved by our group. If there is another outbreak in Hong Kong, we can provide support as soon as possible." Kong Xiangzheng explained.
No matter how the situation changes, central enterprises stationed in Hong Kong have always actively assumed social responsibilities and made every effort to ensure the stable supply of people's livelihood materials.
After the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, the Shenzhen-Hong Kong cross-border land transportation business once came to a standstill, and the land transportation of logistics supplies to Hong Kong was seriously hindered. Water transportation took on the heavy responsibility of ensuring supply, ensuring more than 80% of the transportation tasks of people's livelihood supplies to Hong Kong.
As an important water transport carrier from the mainland to Hong Kong's livelihood materials, Sinotrans Guangyun Shipping Co., Ltd. made full use of the advantages of the regional waterway network during the epidemic to open up more than ten fast-track waterway transportation for Hong Kong's livelihood materials. The company's Ministry of Commerce senior Manager Yao Baozhu introduced.
This year's Spring Festival, with the orderly resumption of customs clearance between the mainland and Hong Kong, Hong Kong's economic and social activities have accelerated to normal, which is no small test for the guarantee of material supply.
"In order to ensure the smooth waterway cargo transportation from the Pearl River Delta to Hong Kong and Macao during the Spring Festival, we have invested a total of 50 ship capacity as overtime ships for the Spring Festival, and arranged 80 relevant personnel to work overtime to ensure the normal operation of the ship." Yao Baozhu said that social capacity resources during the Spring Festival Very nervous. Through active coordination, the company has increased the capacity of cross-border through trains and local urban distribution capacity to ensure the stable and uninterrupted operation of the materials for Hong Kong people's livelihood during the festival.
In Hong Kong, a free port, rice is the only regulated commodity.
China Merchants Warehouse Transportation Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China Merchants Group, is the largest rice storage business in Hong Kong approved by the SAR government, with a storage capacity close to half of the total stock in Hong Kong.
"According to a rough estimate, the current stock of rice in China Merchants Warehouse can supply the local citizens with about a week's consumption." said Wang Qun, general manager of the Marketing Department of China Merchants Warehouse Transportation Co., Ltd.
It is no easy task to ensure a stable and orderly supply of rice. Wang Qun recalled that in the early days of the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, the company's daily workload suddenly increased from the usual 300 tons to 700 tons.
"After continuously adjusting the plan and summarizing experience, during the fifth wave of the epidemic in Hong Kong in 2022, although the supply of vegetables, fruits, meat and other foods was once in short supply, the supply of rice has always remained stable." Wang Qun proudly said that the company, as Hong Kong's " "Rice tank", will always take "Hong Kong citizens have rice at home" as the top priority, and do a solid job in ensuring rice supply.
Unique advantages and broad prospects
As one of Hong Kong's four major economic pillars, the trade and logistics industry accounts for about one-fifth of Hong Kong's GDP, of which shipping accounts for nearly 90% of Hong Kong's external merchandise trade volume, which is an important support for Hong Kong's long-term prosperity and stability.
"As far as the port is concerned, Hong Kong is an important international transit hub port. Under the status of a free port, not only the policies are more internationalized and relaxed, but also the convenience of trade and customs clearance is in a leading position in the world." China Merchants Container Service Co., Ltd. operates Hong Kong The only mid-stream operation terminal that can contact nearly 40 ports in the Greater Bay Area and the coast.
Dai Guangchao, deputy general manager of the company, believes that, judging from the data, although Hong Kong’s transit container business has declined in recent years, it has strong resilience. In 2021, it will still complete 10.98 million TEUs, accounting for 52.3% of the total throughput in 2018. It will rise to 61.8% in 2021. Coupled with Hong Kong's high-quality shipping and maritime services, Hong Kong has unique advantages in international transit cargo. "We are still full of confidence and expectations for Hong Kong's future development."
With multiple advantages, Hong Kong occupies a unique position in the international shipping industry: Hong Kong is the fourth largest ship registry in the world; the International Chamber of Shipping established a China office in Hong Kong in 2019 as the world's first office outside its London headquarters; the Baltic International Chamber of Shipping Announced in September 2020 to list Hong Kong as the fourth designated seat of arbitration, Hong Kong ranks among the top maritime arbitration centers in the world.
"Hong Kong has good conditions to develop into a high-end, high-value-added logistics service center in the region." Kong Xiangzheng mentioned that although the company's overall business volume has shrunk in recent years due to the epidemic, high value-added products represented by electronic components and fashion products The cargo business is very resilient, and its proportion in the total cargo volume has increased significantly. "This type of cargo has high requirements on the management level and distribution efficiency of warehousing and logistics. Hong Kong has the advantages of a free port and a high-quality labor force, so it is fully qualified to develop high-end goods." Logistics Services."
In the warehouse on the second floor of the China Merchants Logistics Center, the reporter saw that in addition to the staff who were moving the goods, there were also people checking the fabric with a magnifying glass, and someone who was labeling an imported bottled beverage.
"As a logistics operator, we are now not only responsible for the warehousing and distribution of goods, but also provide value-added services such as quality inspection and packaging." Kong Xiangzheng said that the cost of land in Hong Kong is high, and it is necessary and possible to use digital and intelligent means to improve efficiency and reduce costs. cost.
"At present, everyone is in the initial stage of digitization and intelligence. The industry is looking forward to receiving government policy and financial support to promote the transformation and upgrading of the logistics and shipping industry with technology. I believe that as long as we find a suitable path, Hong Kong will definitely be able to take the lead in international trade. Continue to shine brightly." Kong Xiangzheng said.
(Story by Feng Xuezhi, People's Daily Overseas Edition, Hong Kong, March 2)