HKMPB - Port

Port of Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of the busiest and most efficient international container ports in the world. It handled over 14.4 million TEUs of containers in 2023. The port provided over 300 international container liner services per week connecting to nearly 500 destinations worldwide.

The locations of the major port facilities, including container terminals, the river trade terminal, mid-stream sites, public cargo working areas (PCWAs) and supporting facilities (e.g. shipyards and typhoon shelters) are shown in the above plan.

In 2023, the Kwai Chung-Tsing Yi Container Terminals handled over 11 million TEUs, representing about 77% of the port container throughput. The remaining 23% was handled at mid-stream sites, the river trade terminal, PCWAs, buoys and anchorages, and other wharves.

Container terminals

Container terminals (CTs) are situated in the Kwai Chung-Tsing Yi basin. There are nine terminals operated by five different operators, namely Modern Terminals Ltd (MTL), Hongkong International Terminals Ltd (HIT), COSCO-HIT Terminals (Hong Kong) Ltd (CHT), Goodman DP World Hong Kong Ltd and Asia Container Terminals Ltd (ACT). They occupy 279 hectares of land, providing 24 berths and 7 794 metres of deep water frontage.

The water depth of the Kwai Tsing Container Basin is 15 metres. A project to deepen the Basin and its approach to 17 metres has been substantially completed in April 2016. The total handling capacity of the container terminals is over 20 million TEUs per year.

Mid-stream sites

The operation of mid-stream sites in Hong Kong mainly involves the loading and unloading of ocean and river cargoes from barges to trucks/lorries and vice versa. Currently, these sites occupy a total land area of about 33 hectares and water frontage of about 3 310 metres. They are either under long-term or short-term tenancies.

River-trade terminals

The River Trade Terminal is currently the only dedicated river-trade terminal in Hong Kong. Its main function is to consolidate containerised, break bulk and bulk cargo shipped between Hong Kong Port and the ports in the Pearl River Delta. It is located near Pillar Point in Tuen Mun and operating with 65 hectares of land and 3,000 metres of quay.

Public Cargo Working Areas

The operation of Public Cargo Working Areas (PCWAs) involves the short‐term allocation of berths and waterfront working areas for the purpose of loading and unloading cargo, bulk and containerised cargo to and from barges. PCWAs are currently situated at six different locations, providing a combined total quay length of 4,828 metres. They are managed by the Marine Department of the HKSAR Government.

Buoys and anchorages

In Hong Kong, there are two types of Government Mooring Buoys (GMB) serving ocean-going vessels calling on the Hong Kong Port:

Class A GMBs - for vessels up to 183 m in length with drafts between 6.4 m and 9.8 m; and

Class B GMBs - for vessels up to 137 m in length with drafts between 6.4 m and 9.1 m.

GMBs allow ocean going vessels moored at anchorages to transfer their cargo to and from barges secured to the ships' sides. GMBs can also serve as typhoon moorings for vessels during extreme weather conditions, and can be used for other non-cargo activities such as mooring of cruise ships.

Hong Kong Port has 25 anchorages, with a total area of 4,446 hectares.

In 2023, about 14 million tonnes of cargo were handled by buoys and anchorages.

Port back-up facilities

Port back-up (PBU) activities are an integral part of the overall port operation in Hong Kong. They are essential port-related activities but do not need to be located within the confines of the port. PBU facilities include container depots, container yards, container vehicle parks and container vehicle repair workshops.

Currently, there are about 425 hectares of land being used for PBU facilities, about 100 hectares are located within the confines of the port and the rest are mainly located in the New Territories (e.g. Yuen Long, Lok Ma Chau).

Typhoon shelters

Within Hong Kong, there are 14 typhoon shelters providing a total of 422 hectares of sheltered space for the protection of local vessels and river trade vessels during typhoons and inclement weather conditions. The use of typhoon shelters by vessels is subject to maximum length restrictions of 30.4 metres, 50 metres or 75 metres.

Ship repair yards

The port industry in Hong Kong is supported by two types of ship repair facility : small repair yards serving the local shipping fleet, and floating docks and ship repair yards which serve much larger ocean-going vessels.

While local ship repair yards are spread across 11 different districts within Hong Kong, the two floating docks are located off the coast of west Tsing Yi.

Ship Management