RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE S/NGMTS/W/2/Add.15
10February 1995
ORGANIZATION(95-0281)
Original: English Negotiating Group onMaritime Transport Services
COMMUNICATION FROM HONG KONG
Response toQuestionnaire onMaritime Transport Services
Thefollowing communication iscirculated attherequest ofHong Kong toMembers ofthe
Negotiating Group onMaritime Transport Services.
_______________
Market Structure
1. Thenumber ofvessels owned oroperated byHong Kong interest :
Types ofVessels No.ofVessels DWT GRT
OilTankers 153 24,204,555 12,119,645
Liquified GasCarriers 22 375,048 311,527
Chemical Tankers 5 133,775 80,286
Combination Carriers 6 332,550 182,680
Ore/Bulk Carriers 433 26,683,739 14,327,951
General Cargo 63 1,132,490 735,872
Container Ships 116 2,444,411 2,213,530
Refrigerated Carriers 26 169,094 157,372
Specialized Cargo 129 2,861,142 2,105,499
Ro-Ro 3 58,532 32,522
Ferries andPassenger 117 18,131 83,737
Other 173 2,129,675 1,533,779
AllVessels 1,246 60,543,142 33,884,400
Notes
1. Position asat31December 1993.
2. Weareunable togiveabreak-down ofhowmany oftheabove vessels carry theHKflagas
weadopt adifferent classification system forregistration ofships carrying ourflag. Using
ourclassification system, abreakdown ofthenumber ofships carrying theHKflagasat
31December 1993 isasfollows:S/NGMTS/W/2/Add.15
Page2
Types ofVessels No.ofVessels GRT
Cargo Ships 192 7,101,457
D.G. Tankers 24 883,699
Ferry Vessels 12 15,552
Dredgers 3 16,897
Others 2 2,117
Total 233 8,019,722
Trade
2. Total international trade carried bysea:
1993 Percentage ofTotal Trade
Quantity
(Million tonnes) 118 88%
Value
(HK$ million) 1,172,162 55%
3. Ofourtotalexports in1993, 61%byvalue iscarried bysea.Ofourtotalimports thatyear,
thepercentage is50%.
4. In1993, about 3%ofthetotalseaborne cargo discharged/loaded inHong Kong wascarried
byships withHong Kong flag.
5. Figures notavailable.
Organisation ofCargo
6. Byourownstatistical classification, gross weight ofseaborne cargo discharged/loaded byship
typein1993 :
('000tonnes)
Total seaborne cargo
ShipType discharged/loaded
Conventional cargo vessel 7,453
Semi-container vessel 5,172
Container vessel (fully cellular) 48,924
Roll-on/roll-off 755
Oiltanker 10,327
Gascarrier/tanker 2,869
Chemical carrier/tanker 1,249
Other fluidproduct carrier 28
Drybulkcarrier 15,994
Lighter/barge/junk 155
Tug 9
Others 3,165
Total 96,100S/NGMTS/W/2/Add.15
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Note :Others =Passenger ship-schedule, Passenger ship-cruising, Passenger and
cargo ship, Barge carrier (LASH/Seabee), OBO carrier, Log/timber carrier,
Other cargo ship, Fishing (including fishprocessing vessel) andOthers.
7. Figures notavailable.
8. Atpresent, there isnoconference shipping inHong Kong towhich theUNCode ofLiner
Conference applies.
9. Nil. Wehavenoofficial bilateral agreements onconference shipping.
10. Measured interms ofquantity, containerisation ratesofocean cargo in1993 andfirsthalf
of1994 were 57%and61%respectively.
11. Figures notavailable.
Ports andAuxiliary Services
12. Thetotalporttraffic forinternational cargoes in1993was118million tonnes, 56%ofwhich
wascontainerized.
13. There isnorestriction onforeign suppliers toparticipate intheprovision ofthequoted auxiliary
services. Foreign suppliers arepresent inthemarket inallofsuchservices.
14. Information notavailable butthere isnolocal equity requirement forsuppliers ofinland
movement bytruck, orwater ofinternational waterborne trade cargoes.
II. Regulatory Structure
1. TheEconomic Services Branch (ESB) oversees shipping polices andensures thatadequate
measures areinplace tosafeguard safety ofnavigation. Itreceives advice from anumber
ofconsultative bodies, including thePortDevelopment Board, which advises thegovernment
onportplanning anddevelopment, andthePortOperations Committee, which advises onthe
operational needs oftheport. TheMarine Department istheexecutive agency oftheESB.
Itmanages theHong Kong portandadministers theHong Kong Shipping Register.
2. Themaritime transport sector, including bulkshipping, isoperated onafreemarket basis.
Laws areinstituted forsafety andenvironmental protection purposes.
3. Asquestion 2above.
4. There arenogeneral restrictions onmultimodal transport operators, general andbulkshipping
lines, shippers andintermediaries torentorleasetrucks, railway carriages, orbarges andrelated
equipment forinland forwarding ofcargoes orforreasonable andnon-discriminatory access
to,anduseof,these forms ofmultimodal activities.
5. Theportismanaged bytheHong Kong Government. Most oftheauxiliary services are
provided bytheprivate sector. Thegranting ofrights tooperate theservices isnormally done
bypublic tender orprivate treaties andnon-discriminatory procedures areadopted.S/NGMTS/W/2/Add.15
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6. InHong Kong "international maritime transport" means thecarriage ofgoods andpassengers
byseabetween Hong Kong andother countries. Itdoesnotinclude inland orwaterborne
movementofgoodsandpassengerswithinHongKongafterthegoodsareunloadedorpassengers
disembarkedfromshipsinHongKong.Itdoesnotincludecabotage,auxiliarymaritimeservices
andportservices asdefined inthemodel Schedule.
7. “National shipping enterprise ”isdefined under theMerchant Shipping (Liner Conferences)
(Hong Kong) Order asashipping lineincorporated inorformed under thelawofHong Kong
andhaving itsplace ofbusiness inHong Kong.
Market Access
8(a) Limitation inthenumber ofservice suppliers, e.g.intheformofmonopoly, orexclusive service
supplier apply inrespect oftheprovision ofcertain maritime auxiliary services andportservices
suchastheprovision ofbuoys, pilotage andlicensing ofvessels forcarriage ofpassengers
within Hong Kong waters andoperating cargo andpassenger terminals etc.These restrictions
apply toservices requiring public utility concession oroccupation ofpublic land. They are
applied without discrimination i.e.foreign andlocalsuppliers aretreated alike.
8(b) Norestrictions areplaced onthetotalvalue ofmaritime transport service transactions, the
totalnumber ofservice operations orthetotalquantity ofoutput.
8(c) Nolimitation oncargo allocation.
8.(d)(i) There isnolimitation onthetotalnumber offoreign natural persons thatmaybe
employed inthemaritime transport sector orthatamaritime transport services supplier
mayemploy. Entry ofallcategories ofpersonnel, except forthose listed intheHong
Kong schedule, issubject toaneconomic needs test.
8.(d)(ii) Same as(d)(i).
9.(a) Norestrictions.
9.(b) Norestrictions.
10. Norestrictions.
11. Theminimum condition forgranting ashiptherighttoflytheHong Kong flagisthattheship
must beregistered inHong Kong. Therequirements forregistration are:
(i) amajority interest intheshipisowned byaHong Kong citizen, oraHong Kong
incorporated company, oranoverseas company registered inHong Kong, ortheship
isondemise charter tosuchacompany;
(ii) arepresentative person, whomusteither betheowner oralocally incorporated ship
management company, isappointed inrelation totheship; and
(iii) theshipisinasatisfactory condition withregard toitssafety andriskofpollution.S/NGMTS/W/2/Add.15
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(a)}
(b)} Nosuchrestrictions.
(c)}
National Treatment
12.(a) Nodirect preferential treatment isgranted exclusively tonational shipping enterprises.
(b)No,other thanthatincome derived frominternational operation ofshipsregistered intheHong
Kong Shipping Register isexempted from Hong Kong’sprofit tax.
13. Allthelisted services areavailable. There isnodifferentiation between ports atnational and
sub-national levels.
14. Pilotage iscompulsory forashipof5,000 grtandabove, andgascarriers, oilorchemical
tankers regardless ofsize. Useofnavigational aidsandcertain anchorages ismandatory.
15. Allservices areavailable without discrimination.
16. Notobothquestions.
17. No.
18. No.
19. No.
Most-favoured-nation treatment
20. Nobutseeanswer toQuestion 22below.
21. Seeanswer toQuestion 22below.
22. Cargo-sharing ispermitted onthebasis ofArticle 2oftheCode ofConduct forLiner
Conferences through legislative means. Inpractice noneoftheshipping linesserving Hong
Kong’sexternal trade applies theLiner Code.
23. Hong Kong hasaverylowtaxsystem. Income derives outside Hong Kong doesnotnormally
attract anytax.Nevertheless double taxation relief agreement hasbeenmade withtheUSin
respect ofincome derived from theinternational operation ofships.
24. No.
25.}Ourestablished policy istosettle disputes, ifany,through consultations.
26.}Wedonotencourage theuseofunilateral retaliatory measures orselective restrictions.
Government Procurement
27. Wehavenodefinition ofnon-commercial cargoes. Eachcaserelating toaccess isconsidered
onitsownmerit.S/NGMTS/W/2/Add.15
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28. No.
Competition Law
29. Themaritime transport sector operates onfreemarket principles. There arenocompetition
orantitrust lawsgoverning theoperation ofthesector.
Shipping Conferences
30. Under theMerchant Shipping (Liner Conferences) (Hong Kong) Order, shipping linesforming
conferences under theU.N. Convention onaCode ofConduct forLiner Conferences are
required toenter intocommercial negotiations ontheadmission ofnewmembers. There are
norules governing thewithdrawal ofmembers from theconferences.
Thegovernment doesnotimpose rulesontheparticipation ofshipping linesinthecommercially
arranged conferences.
31. Conference agreements which arecommercially arranged neednotbefiledornotified.
32. Tariffs arenotrequired tobefiledornotified inHong Kong.
33. Some commercially arranged conferences allow “IRA”.
34. (a)} Terms areagreed between commercial entities. Thegovernment isnot
(b)} involved.
(c)}
Shipper/Carrier Relations
35. Arrangements, ifany,aremade onacommercial basis without government participation.
36. There arenorequirements withregard tofreight ratenegotiations andconsultation. Hong
Kong Government plays norolewithregard todispute settlement.