Hong Kong chief executive outlines shipping strategy at Greater Bay Area conference
Hong Kong's leader announced plans to transform the city from a traditional tonnage port into a value-driven global shipping hub, unveiling measures including green fuel bunkering, a dual-flag ship registration system and expanded partner port network.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee outlined the city's maritime development strategy at the 2026 Greater Bay Area (Guangzhou) Shipping Conference on 13 November, announcing plans to transform Hong Kong from a traditional tonnage port into a "value port" with high-value-added maritime services.
Speaking at the conference, Lee said global economic and trade restructuring had increased external uncertainties, requiring deeper regional collaboration to strengthen supply chain resilience. He highlighted Hong Kong's world-class port facilities, free trade environment, bilingual common law system and thriving maritime services sector, noting the city has ranked among the world's top shipping centres for years.
The national "15th Five-Year Plan" explicitly supports Hong Kong in consolidating its international shipping hub status, Lee said. In response, the Hong Kong government has published its first five-year plan for shipping, focusing on stabilising container volumes, increasing value and strengthening coordination. The strategy pursues two core directions: boosting port competitiveness and building a high-value-added maritime services ecosystem.
On port competitiveness, Lee said Hong Kong is pushing forward smart and green container terminal operations, actively developing green marine fuel bunkering and optimising multimodal transport networks. These include building an integrated "rail-sea-land-river" system connecting to inland areas to strengthen the city's position as a preferred regional logistics hub.
Regarding maritime services, the government is reforming ship registration by introducing a dual-flag system and offering a 50 per cent tax concession on physical commodity trading. Lee said these institutional innovations, combined with Hong Kong's strengths in ship financing, marine insurance and maritime law and arbitration, would attract global maritime businesses to set up in the city.
The government is also building a "partner port" network to enhance competitiveness and resilience through business, technical and knowledge exchanges. Lee noted the first batch of partner ports announced last year included Chile's San Antonio, Dalian and Guangxi. Last month, Hong Kong signed a "sister port" agreement with Shanghai. The chief executive said a second batch of partner ports and other cooperation results would be announced during Hong Kong Maritime Week the following week.
Lee concluded by saying Hong Kong would continue leveraging its unique advantages under the "one country, two systems" principle, serving as a "super connector" and "super value-adder" to work with Greater Bay Area cities in driving high-quality development of the shipping industry.
