Let
as wat deelfils = th
Outter.
M.
1) Enter
CONFIDENTIAL 2 sy time✓
Hover ferry service between
Hong Kong and Canton
for
(57
3) on file to Stors for inf
no 14/9
Адра
Mr Edmund Lau of the Hongkong & Yaumati Ferry
• Company called on me this morning to report on his recent visit to Canton to discuss the proposed hoverferry service.
2.
Mr Lau said the discussions went well once two initial questions had been settled: (a) payments to China and (b) technical cooperation.
Payments to China
3.
In earlier discussions there had been a preliminary understanding that 10% of the fare would go to China Travel Service and 10% to Peking. It now emerged that the Whampoa Port Authority also expected its share and that the overall
The Chinese had also payments to China should be higher. indicated that they wished fares to be kept low and had suggested HK$60 for the single trip (about the same as the present 1st class rail fare). Mr Lau then suggested that he could give 35% of the fare (for the Chinese to divide as they wished) if the fare were $60, and 40% if the fare were $65. The Chinese quickly agreed to the tatter proposal. Apparently the division will be 10% to China Travel Service, 10% to Peking and 20% to the Whampoa Port Authority.
4.
This payment will cover all services provided by China at both ends of the service (C T S being the ticket and luggage agents in Hong Kong). Earlier suggestions of inflated port charges (based on the scale for freighters of 500 tons and upwards) were dropped.
Technical Co-operation
5.
The Chinese showed considerable concern and suspicion when Mr Lau originally suggested that repairs would be undertaken only by HKYF. He realised that the Chinese were concerned that this was an attempt to deny them proper access to the technology of the hovercraft. When Mr Lau made it clear that this was only for the initial period and that he would be delighted to have Chinese technicians on training courses in Hong Kong and subsequently to do repairs at Whampoa, all was sweetness and light. Mr Iau added that a prototype Chineses version of the Sidewall hovercraft has been built in Shanghai but has proved unstable in rough waters. This prototype is now in Canton and the Chinese are evidently looking forward to comparing its performance with the HKYF craft.
/contd....
CONFIDENTIAL
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