The Secretary for Transport and Housing of Hong Kong, Chen Fan, published an article in his blog on March 20, stating that the National 14th Five-Year Plan will not only add impetus to the development of Hong Kong's aviation industry, but also bring opportunities for the development of Hong Kong's shipping and logistics industry. The trade and logistics industry is one of Hong Kong's four major economic pillars, accounting for about one-fifth of the GDP in 2019 and supporting the employment of more than 670,000 people. Although the shipping industry only accounts for 1.1% of Hong Kong’s GDP and provides employment for more than 80,000 people in Hong Kong, it is an important pillar of the trade and logistics industry. The COVID-19 epidemic began to ravage the world at the beginning of last year. Many economies across the world have fallen into recession, and Hong Kong is not immune. The International Monetary Fund estimates that the global economy contracted by 3.5% last year. Under the epidemic, customs closure measures around the world have blocked the global supply chain. In the whole year of last year, Hong Kong's freight volume by land, air and water transport recorded decreases of 7.7%, 6% and 5.3% respectively. We hope that as local governments vaccinate people, the cargo situation in Hong Kong will improve under the control of the epidemic. The logistics industry carries the circulation of goods in Hong Kong and the world, and the shipping industry is particularly important. The shipping industry has always been the preferred method of global freight transportation due to its large volume, low cost and extensive waterways. At present, more than 80% of the global freight volume is transported by water, and Hong Kong's freight volume by water transport is even more than 90%. The global epidemic has affected port container turnover, and the shortage of container container supply has caused global ocean freight rates to record highs repeatedly, and even affected the supply and price of some goods. However, as the saying goes, when there is danger, there is an opportunity. As citizens fight the epidemic at home and employees stay at home to work, our daily life patterns have also changed, and the "home economy" has emerged as the times require. Citizens turn to online shopping for daily necessities and food, and demand for online shopping and food ordering platforms has soared. Online shopping has become a part of our lives, opening up unlimited business opportunities for online merchants, express logistics and other industries. This also reflects the advantages of Hong Kong's convenient logistics industry, allowing everyone to sit at home during the epidemic and continue to enjoy all kinds of daily necessities. Chen Fan said that the shipping and logistics industry has provided us with the needs and conveniences of life. Here, he sincerely thanked the practitioners in the shipping and logistics industry, especially those working on the front lines, including truck drivers, couriers, crews, and terminal employees. , In the severe epidemic, still stick to the post, to ensure that our food and daily necessities are not affected. Since September last year, the weekly COVID-19 test for frontline staff at the Kwai Tsing Container Terminal has been working well, with nearly 100% of the participants and a good record of zero confirmed cases. We have been committed to promoting the development of the shipping and logistics industry. In the logistics industry, we will actively promote the development of modern logistics, consolidate and enhance Hong Kong’s position as a regional logistics hub, and make full use of Hong Kong’s logistics industry’s competitive advantages in providing high value-added services and handling high-value goods (including cold chain management, etc.) Services) and develop high-end logistics services. In addition, we are also actively adopting measures to improve the operational efficiency of the logistics industry. In October 2020, we have officially launched a third-party logistics service provider subsidy pilot program worth 300 million yuan to encourage the logistics industry to improve efficiency and productivity through the application of technology. The project uses a one-to-one matching principle to provide a total of up to $1 million in subsidies to each qualified third-party logistics service provider. The scheme is now accepting applications and the industry has responded enthusiastically. It is expected that it will benefit about 300 logistics companies. As of March 1, 29 projects have been approved, involving approximately 21 million yuan. In the shipping industry, we are committed to consolidating and enhancing Hong Kong’s status as an international shipping center and promoting the development of high value-added shipping services. In the future, we will actively further enhance the competitiveness of Hong Kong's shipping industry in three areas. (1) Actively develop high value-added shipping services: Following the legislative amendments passed in June and July last year to provide tax-exempt and half-tax concessions for ship leasing and marine insurance businesses, respectively, we are studying further tax incentives to attract more shipping business commissions People (such as ship managers, agents and brokers) settled in Hong Kong. The Task Force for Marine Business Clients established last year will study the economic impact and details of the tax reduction proposals and provide opinions to formulate a legal framework to implement tax reductions for marine business clients. We expect to complete the work in the second half of this year, and then we will submit proposals for amendments to the relevant legislation to the Legislative Council. (2) Promote Hong Kong ship registration services and strengthen support to shipowners: We will optimize the services and coverage of the Hong Kong Ship Registry, provide faster and more direct support to shipowners, and promote Hong Kong ship registration. Starting from the end of 2019, the Maritime Department has successively established regional support teams in London, Shanghai and Singapore and put them into operation. In the next two years, four additional regional support teams will continue to be established in other overseas economic and trade offices, including Sydney, San Francisco and Tokyo (2021) and Toronto (2022). By then, the service will cover most of the areas frequently visited by Hong Kong-registered ships. . (3) Expanding the status of Hong Kong as an international shipping center: We have successfully strived for the International Chamber of Shipping to set up its first overseas office in Hong Kong in 2019. The Baltic International Chamber of Shipping (BIMCO) also formally adopted the "BIMCO Law and Arbitration Clause 2020" in September last year, listing Hong Kong as the fourth place of arbitration in the standard dispute resolution clauses of maritime contracts after London, New York and Singapore. Help enhance Hong Kong's international status in maritime dispute resolution and arbitration, and further consolidate the overall strength of Hong Kong's international shipping center. This year is the first year of the 14th Five-Year Plan. The 14th Five-Year Plan mentions “supporting Hong Kong in enhancing its status as an international financial, shipping, trade center and international aviation hub”, supporting the development of Hong Kong’s service industry in the direction of high-end and high value-added services, and improving the integration of Hong Kong and Macau. The overall situation of national development is to deepen cooperation in the Pan-Pearl River Delta, and to build the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area with high quality. With the development of modern freight logistics system and multimodal transport, Hong Kong can play a more active role in the modern logistics system of the Greater Bay Area. We will make good use of our advantages in covering a wide range of international routes and air transportation hubs, together with the high-end logistics center under construction and professional logistics management technology, and coordinate the transformation of the production chain to high-priced goods, and promote the multimodal transport and transportation of water, land and air in the Greater Bay Area. The development of high value-added logistics. At the same time, in line with the country's domestic and international dual-cycle strategy, it will play its role as a regional transit hub port and build a world-class port cluster with cities in the Greater Bay Area to promote the development of the shipping and logistics industry to a higher level. At the same time, we will actively conduct a number of policy studies, especially policies and measures to promote smart ports and green digital shipping. In the future, we will continue to exchange opinions with industry players through different platforms to increase the industry’s awareness of applying innovative technologies, and continue to promote and coordinate the industry’s research, development and application of related innovative technologies, so that Hong Kong can seize the opportunities of the 14th Five-Year Plan. , While actively integrating into the overall situation of the country’s development, continue to maintain and enhance Hong Kong’s port’s competitive advantages and consolidate Hong Kong’s status as an international shipping center. (Reported by Wang Huan and Lin Yurun from China Infrastructure News from Hong Kong)