Quite a bit, we think. In HK when all else fails, there is always the midstream to handle the low-end volume overflows.<\/p>\n
Despite the fact that space at Kwai Chung is at a premium and despite all the plans for expansion which may one day happen, there are times when midstream handling comes into its own. Of course it helps if, like Hutchison, you have your own midstream companies. There is no craft whose condition is too humble, whose freeboard is too low for HK.<\/p>\n
Then there is the matter of standard trading conditions. In Singapore, the velvet glove of the government has tended to discourage a very lively cargo claims environment. In Hong Kong, naked economic power often sways the parties in a contentious matter to adopt the positions they do. And the quite grudging standard trading conditions in place were drafted many moons ago.<\/p>\n
The bodily injury climate can be quite expensive in the fragrant harbour.<\/p>\n
Because there are so many independent contractors working within the port operation, the workman’s compensation insurance is often bought by surprisingly small operations. But this too can be expensive. The Hong Kong harbour scene is sometimes said by wags to be protected by a first world bodily injury litigation system which is fed by a safety system which has aspects which are more redolent of the third world. You need only look at the plimsolls favoured by the gangs on the midstream barges to realise how sui generis the place can be.<\/p>\n
Another peculiarity of the place is the “borrowed” kit and people syndrome. Red in tooth and claw may be the brand of capitalism there, but in Kwai Chung, the parties have arrangements where they help each other out with things when needed. This means the identification of who is liable for what in the case of an accident can be a more lengthy process than might otherwise be the case. I borrow your reachstacker driver, who is employed by a subcontractor employed by you and one of my customer’s chaps knocks him off his truck. Who picks up the tab of his disability and or hospitalisation?<\/p>\n
They are all very skilled in the small handkerchief of land that is Kwai Chung so thankfully it does not happen very often. But even in an industry like intermodal cargo handling, culture can make a difference. When we make new hardstanding by dumping spoil into the drink we call it “reclaiming land”. When they do it they call it “filling in the sea”.<\/p>\n
Whose realism is the greater here?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When the new Singaporean owners come to work to their recently acquired operation in Hong Kong, what will they notice that is different? Anything at all on the risk front?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":2531,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[306],"tags":[],"sponsor":[],"class_list":["post-2530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-insurer"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2530"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2532,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2530\/revisions\/2532"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2530"},{"taxonomy":"sponsor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sponsor?post=2530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}