Interplay of international, national and local factors in shaping container port development: A case study of Hong Kong

Abstract

The paper attempts to develop a better understanding of the evolution and future prospects of a container port by drawing on the changing international, national and local factors since the 1990s. Hong Kong, the world's busiest container port, is chosen as a case study. Against the background of four international megatrends of increasingly large containerships (and the restructuring of the liner shipping industry), the high spatial agglomeration of container traffic, the emergence of inland load centres and the growing importance of railways, the levels and the spatial dimensions of containerization in the People's Republic of China are systematically examined. Then, the relevancy of these factors in shaping the evolution and competitive position of Hong Kong's container port is highlighted at the local level. This paper finds that the changing policies of the Hong Kong government have not been consistent with the international and national trends associated with the development of a better integrated port-inland distribution system (and land bridges) based on road and railways. Market forces cannot explain the container port development satisfactorily. Political and other considerations have become equally, if not more, important. In the future, the competitive edge of Hong Kong's container port lies with serving the wider inland areas of Mainland China and the tapping of medium- and long-distance container freight, more economically transported by railways than by road or inland river.