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The Customs and Excise Department provides comprehensive Customs services for river trade vessels following the opening of Phase I of Tuen Mun River Trade Terminal (RTT) on October 14.
The consolidated Customs services include cargo examination, cargo appointment, ship search, ship store checking and terminal patrol.
The Commander of the RTT Division, Assistant Superintendent Wong Man-chiu said: "The RTT is the first terminal specially designed for handling river trade cargoes in Hong Kong.
"It is built to meet the anticipated growth in the volume of river trade cargo traffic and to increase port productivity.
"A total of 51 Customs officers have been posted to the Terminal at this stage and the number will be increased to 136 to meet the workload generated when Phase II is completed in November 1999," Mr Wong added.
Mr Wong pointed out that the Customs was currently carrying out a variety of services at the RTT, one of which was the inspection of cargoes imported by river trade vessels.
He said ship search was another major function of the Customs at the Terminal.
On the facilities provided by the Customs at the Terminal, Mr Wong noted that its cargo examination compound could accommodate eight 40-foot container trucks to undergo cargo inspection at the same time.
Other facilities include a Customs Warehouse which is built next to the cargo examination compound for assessment of duty on imported spirits and temporary storage of dutiable goods after normal office hour.
"The terminal is now providing a 16-hour service which will eventually be extended to cover 24 hours to tie-in with the development plan.
"We anticipate activities at the Terminal will be busy when it swings into full operation when Phase II is completed," Mr Wong concluded.
The RTT at Tuen Mun Area 38 is about five kilometers from Tuen Mun Pier.
The terminal - operated by River Trade Terminal Co. Ltd. - occupies 65 hectares of land and 3,000 metres sea-front which can cater for vessels up to 3,000 gross registered tonnes or 100 metres overall in length.
End/Sunday, October 25, 1998
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