No ferry terminal change before 2017

The Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal ‘is already overburdened by an excessive number of passengers,’ said the head of the Maritime Administration, Susana Wong Soi Man

Even though the long-term future of the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal remains in doubt, there will be no changes to the infrastructure’s location before 2017, the head of the Maritime Administration (CP) said yesterday.
“The [Macau peninsula] terminal is still very important,” Susana Wong Soi Man explained. “In my opinion, I believe there will be no change to its location within the next five years,” she added.
But, the official stressed, “we need to have alternatives for the future”. As part of the planning on the development of the new urban areas the government has proposed four alternatives for the terminal.
The options include relocating the terminal to either the artificial island located in plot A or the offshore artificial island that will host the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge border crossing or closing the terminal altogether and instead relying on the future Pac On terminal in Taipa.
There is still no decision on the future role of the Outer Harbour infrastructure but Wong stressed that the current situation “is not acceptable at all”.
“There are many spaces occupied but few are providing services to passengers or tourists,” she bemoaned.
In addition “the luggage handling area is very rundown,” the CP director said. “We want to make Macau a world-class leisure and entertainment destination but the terminal is not able to reach that level.”

Strained facilities

The CP resumed full control of the Outer Harbour infrastructure last month as the concession contract with Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau expired. The authorities have already promised to launch yearlong renovation works in the third quarter of 2012.
“We won’t spend a lot of money,” Wong assured. The initial renovation will add luggage facilities and a baggage carousel to the east wing of the first floor. The second stage will see all the ticket offices moved into the same second floor area.
During the third phase the offices of tourism and hotel businesses will be moved to a specific area in the west wing of the first floor. The final alterations will create a separate check-in and embarkation zone for vessels travelling to the Hong Kong International Airport.
But the official said the works are necessary to keep the terminal operating. “It’s already overburdened by an excessive number of passengers, and that poses problems even to traffic in the surrounding area,” she recalled.
In the first 11 months of last year the number of visitors arriving at the Outer Harbour increased by 10.7 percent to 6.4 million. Wong stressed that the Taipa Provisional Ferry Terminal is already taking 31.2 percent of all tourists arriving by sea.

Taipa review

The CP is currently carrying out a passenger capacity evaluation to decide whether or not the Taipa infrastructure is able to handle a new ferry service. Even though Macao Dragon, which ceased operations last September, was using the Pac On pier, Wong says authorities “will review the whole situation”.
The evaluation results should be ready “after the Chinese New Year,” she added. The next step would be to publicly call for applications from shipping companies “with relevant experience and sufficient qualified staff”.
So far there have been no expressions of interest from companies interested in operating from the Taipa terminal, Wong said.
Last October, lawmaker Kwan Tsui Hang bemoaned the lack of competition in the ferry sector. “The overall ferry service now in Macau is absolutely undesirable, because basically only two companies are left,” she said.
CotaiJet is currently the only operator linking the Pac On terminal and Hong Kong. And in August Shun Tak, which controls ferry operator TurboJet, bought rival company New World First Ferry.
“That was due to a decision from New World First Ferry’s mother company [Hong Kong-listed New World First Holdings] to undergo restructuring and leave the ferry business,” Wong emphasised.
Also in October, the chairman of Association of Users of Macau’s Utility Companies, Cheng Chung Fai, called on the government to rearrange the ferry service market, to ensure a better service.
“It’s all up to the market conditions,” Wong underlined, but the government “will encourage more companies to open new routes”.
“We want to give more choice to passengers and for that purpose we will establish more favourable rules for companies, as well as better infrastructures.”
In 2010 the government granted 14 ferry route permits but three – including new routes to Zhuhai and Dongguan – were revoked as the operators missed the July deadline to have launched a service. “As far as we know there were technical problems but those are markets that Macau would like to have a connection with,” the CP director said.