The Financial Secretary, the Honourable Donald Tsang, JP today (Monday) officiated at the Ground Breaking Ceremony for Container Terminal 9 (CT9), marking the latest stage in Hong Kong Container Port's development.

In his speech, Mr Tsang said: "The start of work on CT9 is an important milestone in the overall development of the port. With its completion in 2004, container throughput is expected to exceed the 20 million TEUs (twenty foot equivalent units) mark - that's the equivalent of handling one 'box' every one-and-a-half seconds, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

"CT9 will certainly play a significant part in our overall development."

On behalf of the joint developers of CT9, Mr David Holmes, the Project Manager, said that the new terminal's six berths at South East Tsing Yi will be completed and become operational in phases between May 2002 and late 2004. They will represent a substantial development, adding a designed annual throughput capacity of 2.6 million TEUs to Kwai Chung Container Port's existing capacity of over 11.5 million TEUs. However, the terminal operators estimate they will be able to handle a much higher volume than the design capacity through the introduction of productivity and efficiency measures.

"The total site area of the CT9 development is 150 hectares; equivalent to 139 football fields. One hundred and twenty hectares of this will be reclaimed from the sea; a task that involves moving over 34 million cubic metres of sand," Mr Holmes explained.

"The terminal itself will occupy 68 hectares. The rest of the site will be used for access roads, back-up areas for parking and other container-related uses. In addition, we will be constructing a new marine basin. CT9's quay structure will stretch for nearly 2 kilometres. The quayside water depth of 15.5 metres has been designed to handle the increasingly large container vessels which are not only plying the seas today, but also are planned for the future," Mr Holmes added.

The co-developers of CT9 are Modern Terminals Limited, Hongkong International Terminals Limited and Asia Container Terminals Limited. The main contractor is Hyundai - CCECC Joint Venture formed by Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd. and China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation.