A Study on the site selection process of the Kai Tak cruise terminal in Hong Kong is the latest study of PortEconomics co-director Thanos Pallis, and PortEconomics associate member Adolf Ng along with Yui-yip Lau (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University) and Ka-chai Tam (Hong Kong Baptist University) presented during the the annual conference of the International Association of Maritime Economists – IAME 2014, that was held in Norfolk, Virginia, USA.
The stydy undertakes a historical review study on the process of site selection of Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Cruise Terminal (KTCT) since the closure of Kai Tak Airport (KTA) in 1998. The authors focus on how the existing cruise terminal, i.e., the Ocean Terminal, struggled to accommodate new demands which prompted the idea of constructing a new cruise terminal. They investigate how public opinions (and objections) to reclamation, and inputs from different institutional agents, had forced the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government to abandon alternative development plans, of which it paved the way for the installation of KTCT at the old KTA site. In turn, they analyse how the final decision of establishing KTCT in the old KTA site is a compromising solution between different political forces. Data collection involves semi-structured, in-depth interviews with a number of key personnel who were involved in the decision-making process in the planning of old KTA site and KTCT. This study provides invaluable insight on the location and site selection of transport terminals, as well as the interaction between terminals and urban land use.
You may freely download authors’ paper and presentation version @PortEconomics.eu