"May the shipping business in Hong Kong sail far and large," Tung said while speaking as a distinguished guest at the maiden voyage ceremony of COSCO HONG KONG.

The chief executive said the demand for container transport, crude oil, energy, ore and raw materials will rise quickly fuelled by the accelerated development in the country's economy and trade, creating great opportunities for the international shipping market.

He said the SAR government will enhance cooperation with the international and the Mainland shipping industry to fully realize its advantages as a leading maritime center, so as to contribute to the development of the country and add new momentum to Hong Kong's economy.

Tung said the government commits to maintaining advantages in container port service, improving efficiency and reducing cost to raise competitiveness by providing swift customs clearance with the Pearl River Delta area.

"We will also push forward with the development of the logistics industry, capitalizing on our advantages in container port and aviation facilities, to provide more competitive services for the Mainland's import and export trade, and to open up a new domain for our economic development," he added.

Hong Kong serves as the country's premier port for foreign trade, handling 70 percent of the container cargo in southern China last year.

Currently, Hong Kong is also holding, controlling or managing 37 million tones, 7 percent of the world's total tonnage, a volume comparable to the shipping centers of Greece, Norway and London.

COSCO HONG KONG is one of the 6 new container vessels due to be put into COSCO group's weekly service from China to North-west Europe, each of which has a maximum capacity of 5446 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).

This is the first time for COSCO to use "Hong Kong" as the name of its new vessel.

COSCO has eleven main line containership calls to Hong Kong per week which transport about 1 million TEUs every year.

( April 27, 2002)