Although many sectors have been seriously affected by the atypical pneumonia outbreak, the overall performance of the logistics industry remains stable, the Secretary for Economic Development & Labour said today.

As the Chairman of the Logistics Development Council, Stephen Ip said the impact of the virus outbreak on the industry's daily operation has been minimal and the overall development of the freight industry in April remained stable.

He said the industry's resilience reinforces his confidence in the logistics sector as one of Hong Kong's economic pillars.

To facilitate early implementation of the Digital Trade & Transportation Network System, submission of proposals on development of the system to the council will close on April 30.

The Government has also started the site selection process for the development of a Value Added Logistics Park at North Lantau by the private sector.

These two major initiatives will significantly enhance the overall competitiveness of our logistics industry, he said.

In the meantime, the council is developing tailor-made courses to cater for the practical training needs of small and medium logistics enterprises, and will further explore with the Trade & Industry Department how best to make use of existing small and medium enterprises funding schemes.

"To showcase our logistics capabilities to an international audience, we are actively pursuing proposals to organise logistics conferences in Hong Kong later in the year," Mr Ip said.