28 September 2004 (Tuesday)

The Secretary for Economic Development and Labour, Mr. Stephen Ip, met with industry representatives today (28 September) to discuss measures to reduce cross boundary trucking cost. At the end of the meeting, he received from the industry representatives a proposal to the Chief Executive on this subject.

Mr. Ip said that he fully recognised the importance of reducing cross boundary trucking cost as a means to enhance Hong Kong's port and logistics competitiveness. "We are grateful to the industry for presenting their proposal, which in fact echoes the finding of the Study on Hong Kong Port - Master Plan 2020 commissioned by the Government that road haulage cost is a key factor affecting the competitiveness of the Hong Kong port," said Mr. Ip.

"In the proposal raised by the industry, the relaxation of the '4-up-4-down' and '1-truck-1-driver' requirements on Hong Kong container trucks are crucial in enhancing the efficiency and reducing the cost of cross boundary trucking service. There is a strong industry consensus for the Government to follow up on them. As both measures will require discussion with and cooperation of the Guangdong authorities, we will pursue them in the context of the Hong Kong-Guangdong Cooperation Joint Conference," Mr Ip said.