- The Hong Kong Chamber of Shipping has been officially established to boost Hong Kong’s status as an international shipping hub.
- The aim of the Chamber is to power the national maritime hub construction and improve Hong Kong’s position in the shipping, financing and trading sectors.
The Hong Kong Chamber of Shipping has been launched as a body designed to boost the city’s credentials as an international maritime centre, reports Seatrade Maritime News.
CY Leung, former head of the territory, is one of the chamber’s co-founders, with Hing Chao, the head of Wah Kwong Maritime Transport, serving as its chairman.
“Ports, shipping companies in China, as they become more international, they will naturally want to tap into Hong Kong’s high value-added maritime service,” Chao said at the launch of the new body while Leung urged stakeholders to leverage Hong Kong’s strengths and adopt a holistic approach, calling for greater coordination among the shipping, trade, finance, professional, and educational sectors.
At the turn of the century Hong Kong was Asia’s preeminent maritime centre, a position that has been eroded over the past couple of decades.
The 2024 Leading Maritime Cities (LMC) report from DNV and Menon Economics published in April saw Hong Kong fall to 12th place on the list of the top 50 shipping hubs around the world. As recently as 2019, it ranked in fourth place.
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Source: Seatrade Maritime News
