CONFIDENTIAL
It was agreed that it was most desirable to put a cordon around the register if this was possible, although the detailed form of the restrictions would have to be worked out after further meetings with the UK shipowners and others. In any event, the Hong Kong Government was content to operate the qualifications for access as restrictively as the UK wished so long as 'bona fide' Hong Kong shipowners were not excluded,
ENFORCEMENT OF SAFETY REQUIREMENTS OUTSIDE HONG KONG
7. Mr Hanson asked how the Hong Kong Government proposed to maintain adequate surveillance over their ships when they were outside Hong Kong, Because 80-90% of the new fleet would not trade to Hong Kong this would be a far greater problem than for the UK, only 7% of whose fleet did not trade here regularly. There was the need to have Hong Kong Government officers make inspections abroad so as to ensure that correct certificates were held, and to have surveys performed by Hong Kong Government surveyors, This involved a considerable expansion of the Hong Kong marine survey service, and a willingness to send surveyors abroad on a regular basis.
8. Mr Fletcher was reluctant to commit the Hong Kong Government to expand their marine survey service sufficiently to make 'adequate arrangements' for the survey and inspection of the new tonnage on the register. He was unwilling to see the setting up of the register dependent on the recruitment of a sufficient number of surveyors. Hong Kong Government legislation would in theory require that the Marine Department see 'every ship every time'.
In practice this would be impossible and reliance would have to be placed on the Classification Societies and on other governments who could under the terms of the International Conventions perform curveys on Hong Kong's behalf.
9.
Mr Manson emphasised that if there were not the resources to maintain adequate supervision over the ships in question, then he saw no alternative to declining to admit them to the register. It would be a most retrograde step to attract them from registry in Liberia which now had a world-wide inspection service to a new Hong Kong register if it did not. It was to be anticipated that this point could give rise to considerable difficulty, particularly in view of the bad reception which the proposals were already receiving in shipping circles and the doubts which had been expressed that UK standards would in practice not be maintained,
MARINE DIVISION
DEPARTMENT OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY
SEPTEMBER 1973
2
CONFIDENTIAL