The Council adamantly protests the increase as totally without justification and is detrimental to the competitiveness of the Hong Kong port. “Hong Kong has experienced a deflationary economy in the past few years,” said Willy Lin, Chairman of the Shippers’ Council. “Many shipping lines have moved substantial parts of their documentation departments to Mainland China to lower costs. There is therefore no reason for them to drive the costs in Hong Kong higher.”

More and more shippers and freight forwarders are now using electronic means to transmit documents. The increased usage of electronic document processing drives down administrative costs for shipping lines. “Hong Kong shippers are already paying an extra US$25 per bill of lading for every shipment to the US for the Advanced Manifest System imposed by US Customs. This is in addition to the Documentation Fee,” said Mr. Lin.

Exporters and importers should raise this unreasonable demand with their customers so as to exert pressure on shipping lines. The consequences of such an increase could translate into millions of dollars. Even at a conservative figure of 10 million bills of lading issued and received a year, the $10 increase will cost shippers HK$100 million.

To increase the Documentation Fee at this stage contradicts the industry’s efforts in enhancing the competitiveness of Hong Kong as a shipping and logistics centre. Hong Kong has already lost its position as the world’s busiest port that it has held for the past decade. The industry stakeholders are all committed to maintaining the port’s competitiveness by keeping down operating costs in Hong Kong. This action of the carriers of raising the Documentation Fee without justification would certainly have a negative impact on the industry’s efforts.