HK gov't awards tenancy of new cruise terminal at Kai Tak

The Tourism Commission of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau of Hong Kong announced Thursday that the tenancy for operating and managing the new cruise terminal at Kai Tak has been awarded to the Worldwide Cruise Terminals Consortium (WCT). The successful bidder is a joint venture of three companies, namely Worldwide Flight Services, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd and Neo Crown Ltd. A spokesman for the Tourism Commission said, "The new cruise terminal is an important tourism infrastructure project in Hong Kong. It is key to developing Hong Kong into a regional cruise hub in Asia and enhancing our position in tourism." The spokesman said, the WCT possesses rich experience in various aspects, and is suitable for operating the new cruise terminal, "We believe the WCT will fully apply its expertise to meet the operational needs of the new cruise terminal." According to the terms of tenancy, apart from arranging the berthing of cruise vessels as well as embarkation and disembarkation of passengers, the WCT will also be responsible for the operation and management of the cruise terminal, such as traffic arrangements within the transportation area, security arrangements, tenancy of the ancillary commercial area, promotion of the cruise terminal, etc. The WCT is required to pay to the Government a fixed rent and a variable rent. The fixed rent for the 10-year operation is approximately 13 million HK dollars. The Government will receive a percentage of the gross receipts of the operator as the variable rent, and the percentage of the gross receipts to be shared with the Government will increase as the gross receipts go up. The percentages of gross receipts that the WCT will share with the Government range from 7.3 percent to 34 percent. According to the city's government, construction works for the new cruise terminal are progressing smoothly, and the terminal building and the first berth will come into operation in mid-2013 as scheduled.