Hong Kong eyes tech-driven online platform for port community to catch port trade opportunities| LSCM Logistics Summit 2025

The city’s officials and industry leaders emphasised the Port Community System, an electronic platform to optimise port operations and seize opportunities in the evolving port trade market, at this year’s Logistics Summit on Friday.

The PCS, which caught the attention in numerous discussions among industry experts, refers to a digital platform that leverages cutting-edge technology to “provide a comprehensive, real-time cargo tracking function, creating a seamless digital thread that connects sea, land, and air networks,” according to an opening remark speech delivered by Mable Chan, Secretary for Transport and Logistics, on Friday morning.

According to government data citing Alphaliner's ranking of the world's top 30 container ports, Hong Kong fell to 11th place in 2023 from 8th place in 2019. Alphaliner’s latest ranking shows Hong Kong dropped further to 13th place in 2024.  

Kazunori GOTO, the deputy head of the Yusen Logistics Global Management (Hong Kong) Limited, mentioned that many logistics companies today only provide basic transportation services, which fail to meet customers' demands for visibility.

GOTO stated that the logistics process involves seven participants, including factories, customs, and end-users, and the complexity of communication between these links often leads to disconnections, resulting in inefficiencies, delays, and information gaps.

Kenneth Law, the manager of LSCM, stated that compared to traditional ports, the PCS platform integrates all information on a single platform, which significantly improves information accessibility.

Law believes that this system will reduce corporate costs in areas such as IT and cargo tracking, effectively lowering transaction costs and thereby driving the overall development of the port economy.

Chan believes that the PCS can directly enhance Hong Kong's competitiveness as an international trade, finance and logistics hub. 

"By its nature, it is government-run, it is official, so in a way it instils and upholds a high level of confidence in the trade," she added.

However, Simon Wong, the Chief Executive Officer of the LSCM, pointed out that the current port development system has only established the groundwork. To truly make it effective for the economy, sufficient user participation is still needed.

"The more people participate, the more information and data we have, and the stronger the system's performance becomes," said Wong.