Feature · Scenery & Weather
Kwai Chung container terminals come to life
More ships alongside, more detailed quay cranes, terminal buildings, reefer racks, empties depots, yard tractors and lighters working cargo mid-stream.
The Kwai Chung container terminals under the IGS 13 approach now look like a working 1998 port. Container Terminals 1 to 8 line the Rambler Channel, with more ships alongside, more detailed quay cranes, the terminal buildings behind the stacks, and cargo moving everywhere you look.
Ships at the quays, cranes at work
More berths now have a container ship alongside. Each ship has lashing bridges between the bays, a breakwater on the foredeck, a radar mast on the wheelhouse and lifeboats in their davits. The quay cranes carry their operator's colours (Modern Terminals red-orange, HIT white, Sea-Land grey, ACT blue) and now show boom lacing, a walkway, a landside K-brace and a stair tower up one leg.
The working cranes still load and discharge for real: the trolley runs out over a bay, the spreader drops to the stack, picks up a box and sets it on a tractor-trailer waiting under the portal.
Lighters on the seaward side
As in 1990s Hong Kong, some ships have a lighter tied up on the water side. Each lighter has its own derrick that swings a box from the ship's deck down into its hold, then swings back for the next one, while the quay cranes work the other side.
Terminal buildings and yard traffic
- Offices with ribbon windows and the operator's sign on the roof.
- Truck gates: a canopy over the lanes, booths, barriers and lorries queuing in and out.
- Container freight stations with dock doors and trailers backed in.
- Maintenance workshops with big doors and spares on the hardstand.
- Empty-container depots stacked seven high, with top-lifters in the aisles.
- Reefer blocks: white refrigerated boxes no more than three high, plugged into steel racks.
- Yard tractors running the roads between the stacks, with and without a box.
Try this
Fly the IGS 13 approach and look left as you start the descent over Tsing Yi: the terminals are below you across the Rambler Channel. All the new buildings, cranes and ships are solid, so stay above them.
IGS 13 進近航道下面嘅葵涌貨櫃碼頭，而家似一個真正運作緊嘅 1998 年港口。一至八號貨櫃碼頭沿住藍巴勒海峽排開，泊咗更多船，岸邊吊機更精細，貨櫃堆後面有碼頭大樓，周圍都見到貨物喺度郁。
碼頭泊船，吊機開工
而家更多泊位都泊住貨櫃船。每隻船嘅貨艙之間有綁紮橋，前甲板有擋浪板，駕駛樓頂有雷達桅，兩邊吊住救生艇。岸邊吊機用返各營運商嘅顏色（現代貨箱碼頭橙紅、HIT 白色、Sea-Land 灰色、ACT 藍色），而家仲加咗吊臂桁架、行人通道、陸側 K 形支撐，同埋沿一條腳上去嘅樓梯塔。
開緊工嘅吊機照樣真係裝卸貨：小車行出貨艙上面，吊具落到貨櫃堆，吊起一個貨櫃，放落喺門架下面等緊嘅拖架上。
海側嘅躉船
好似九十年代香港咁，有啲船喺海嗰邊綁住一隻躉船。每隻躉船有自己嘅吊桿，將貨櫃由船甲板擺落自己個艙，再擺返去吊下一個，同時岸邊吊機就做緊另一邊。
碼頭建築同堆場交通
- 辦公大樓：一條條窗帶，天台有營運商招牌。
- 貨車閘口：行車線上有上蓋，有崗亭、閘杆，貨車排隊出入。
- 貨櫃貨運站：有上落貨門，拖架倒車埋位。
- 維修工場：有大閘門，空地擺住零件。
- 吉櫃場：吉櫃疊到七層高，通道有吉櫃車。
- 雪櫃區：白色冷藏櫃最多疊三層，插住喺鋼架上。
- 碼頭拖頭：喺貨櫃堆之間嘅路上行，有啲拖住貨櫃，有啲空車。
試吓
飛 IGS 13 進近，喺青衣上空開始下降時望左邊：碼頭就喺藍巴勒海峽對面你下面。新嘅建築、吊機同船都係實體，記得飛高過佢哋。
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