Thomas Lee/Bloomberg

Inner Harbour container port handling companies asked to relocate to Ká Hó Port by June

The Marine and Water Bureau (DSAMA) has requested the companies responsible for some Inner Harbour piers to relocate to the Ká Hó Port by June due to the new Urban Master Plan established for the city, newspaper Tribuna de Macau reported.

The Macau SAR 2020-2040 Urban Master Plan – which provides for about three square kilometres of new land gained from the sea, new housing, commercial, tourism, green areas or public spaces – was enforced on February 15 of this year and predicts that some Inner Harbour area piers be transformed into commercial areas in the future.

“DSAMA explained that the change was due to the fact that the Master Plan had been launched, so it was necessary for the containers to be moved to the Ká Hó Port . He said it was necessary to do everything according to the document”, a representative from Wing Luen Fat, a company responsible for operating Pier 7-A told the newspaper.

The Director of the International Transport and Logistics Association, Lei Kuok Fai, criticised the fact that the idea was only communicated shortly before the deadline to make the change and warned the change could impact supplies to the city, as the Ka-Ho Port could hold fewer vessels.

Meanwhile, Ho Hon Fai, Deputy Director of the Macau Maritime Transport Owners and Shipping Agencies Association stated that while the sector is not against the change it warned that it was necessary to improve the infrastructure of the Ká Hó Port, as well as other complementary traffic facilities.

“The size of the Port of Ká-Hó cannot support the same amount of goods as the Inner Port, so the change will only increase the operating pressure of the Ká Hó Port ”, he noted.

According to Statistics and Census Bureau data in 2021 more than 115,000 tonnes of goods were moved via the Inner Harbour, while only 43,000 tonnes passed by the Ká Hó Port .