LCQ3: Cross-boundary container vehicle drivers
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Question:
As at the end of 2014, there were about 4 500 persons with permission to drive cross-boundary container trucks to commute between Guangdong Province and Hong Kong, with nearly 70 per cent of them being persons aged 50 or above. The Mainland authorities have stipulated that drivers aged over 60 are not permitted to drive heavy vehicles. Some members of the logistics industry have pointed out that with the upcoming commissioning of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB), the cargo hinterland of Hong Kong will be expanded. However, as the freight industry is plagued with the long-standing succession problem of drivers, Hong Kong may miss out the business opportunities to be brought about by the commissioning of HZMB. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it knows the number of cross-boundary container truck drivers in each of the past three years, and set out in the table below a breakdown by the age group to which they belonged;
| Age (years) | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
| Below 20 | |||
| 20 to 29 | |||
| 30 to 39 | |||
| 40 to 49 | |||
| 50 to 59 | |||
| 60 or above | |||
| Total |
(2) whether it knows the number of courses related to the cross-boundary container freight and related industries offered in each of the past five years by the Employees Retraining Board (ERB) under its Skills Upgrading Scheme Plus, and a breakdown of the number of trainees by (i) course title and (ii) whether they are in-service cross-boundary container truck drivers or persons outside the trade;
(3) of the measures taken by the Government in the past three years to alleviate the shortage of cross-boundary container truck drivers, and the effectiveness of such measures; and
(4) of the measures the Government will take to boost the number of cross-boundary container truck drivers to dovetail with the commissioning of HZMB; whether such measures will include: (i) making reference to the arrangement of the Professional Training and Examination Refund Scheme under the Maritime and Aviation Training Fund and granting tuition and examination fees subsidies to persons enrolled in training courses for cross-boundary container truck drivers, (ii) suggesting ERB to offer placement-tied courses for cross-boundary container truck drivers, and (iii) relaxing the restrictions on importing Mainland drivers; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that, and what other measures are in place to attract new blood into the industry?
Reply:
President,
The reply to the Hon Frankie Yick’s question is as follows:
(1) Any person who wishes to drive a container vehicle must hold a valid driving licence for articulated vehicles issued by the Transport Department (TD). Moreover, according to the requirement of the two governments of Guangdong and Hong Kong, only designated drivers may drive cross-boundary vehicles (including container vehicles) between the two places. Based on TD's information, the numbers of persons fulfilling the above requirements for driving cross-boundary container vehicles in the past three years (as at the end of each year) are listed below.
| Age (years) | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
| Below 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 to 29 | 23 | 37 | 17 |
| 30 to 39 | 225 | 365 | 172 |
| 40 to 49 | 984 | 1 249 | 653 |
| 50 to 59 | 2 451 | 2 864 | 2 245 |
| 60 or above | 649 | 878 | 1 211 |
| Total | 4 332 | 5 393 | 4 298 |
(2) In the past five years, there were no training courses specifically for the cross-boundary container freight industry provided by the Employees Retraining Board (ERB). Nevertheless, the ERB provided the following courses under the "Skills Upgrading Scheme Plus" for the general land transport industry, including the cross-boundary freight industry:
| Course Title |
No. of persons enrolled | ||||
| 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 (as at Feb 2018) |
|
| Foundation Certificate in Land Transport Knowledge (Part-time) | Not yet launched | Not yet launched | Not yet launched | Not yet launched | 10 |
| Certificate in Defensive Driving (Skidding Control) (Part-time) | 90 | 30 | 40 | 80 | 100 |
ERB does not keep information on whether the persons enrolled are past or existing cross-boundary container vehicle drivers.
(3) and (4) TD's records show that there were over 44 000 people in Hong Kong holding valid driving licences for articulated vehicles as at the end of 2017. About 4 300 of them were designated drivers for cross-boundary container vehicles. It is believed that the gap reflects the personal choice of drivers and relevant considerations regarding the different working and employment conditions offered by other industries.
With a view to relieving the overall shortage problem of commercial vehicle drivers and facilitating prospective occupational drivers to join the industry, TD proposes to relax the licence-holding requirements for application of commercial driving licences, by changing the current requirement for an applicant to hold a valid driving licence for private car or light goods vehicle for at least three years to at least one year (i.e. completing a probationary driving period of at least one year). In 2017, TD consulted various transport trades, the Legislative Council (LegCo) Panel on Transport and the Road Safety Council on the proposal, and received supportive views in general. The Government is now working on the relevant legislative amendment work and plans to introduce the relevant legislative proposals into LegCo within 2018. Although the commercial vehicles as stated in the aforementioned relaxation proposal do not include articulated vehicles, under the current legislation, any persons who wish to apply for a learner's or full driving licence for articulated vehicles have to hold a valid full driving licence for medium goods vehicles or heavy goods vehicles, both of which fall under the commercial vehicles as stated in the relaxation proposal. Therefore, the aforementioned proposal, if approved by LegCo in the future, should be able to help increase the supply of commercial vehicle divers (including drivers of cross-boundary container vehicles), thereby relieving the manpower shortage problem in the cross-boundary container freight industry.
Regarding training, generally speaking, ERB develops training courses that are market-driven and employment-oriented. In general, it will consult the relevant industry consultative network under its purview to ascertain the employment opportunities of a particular industry or occupation before considering whether to develop related training courses.
As regards the proposal to import Mainland drivers, since importing Mainland drivers may affect the local community and local drivers' livelihood, and as described above, there are currently (as at end 2017) over 44 000 people in Hong Kong holding valid driving licences for articulated vehicles, the Government currently has no plan to relax the restrictions on importing Mainland drivers.
The Government will continue to maintain liaison with the industry, as well as keep in view the industry's operating conditions and the demand for cross-boundary container vehicle drivers. We will also review the industry’s training needs in consultation with the trade, as well as provide feasible support and formulate appropriate measures.
Ends/Wednesday, April 25, 2018
Issued at HKT 14:00
Issued at HKT 14:00
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