INDUSTRY AND TRADE
5I
of Hong Kong goods, economic restrictions in some parts of the region and industrialization in others have forced the Colony's merchants and manufacturers to look further afield for new markets.
There is without doubt scope for further industrial development in the Colony, but certain difficulties have to be faced. The first of these is the severe shortage of water. This will be ameliorated to some extent when Tai Lam Chung Reservoir is completed. The second difficulty is a shortage of suitable industrial land in Hong Kong's hilly terrain. In the past much of the Colony's residential and commercial development has been achieved by the simple expedient of excavating hillsides and using the spoil to reclaim land from the sea. This method is being used to make the reclamation at Kun Tong referred to in the Review of the Year, and which will provide within the next few years about 140 acres of land for industrial sites.
Heavy Industries
The Colony's 21 shipbuilding and repair yards employ over 7,540 workers.
Most of the yards are capable of handling and building small craft, lighters, barges and ferries; but the Hong Kong & Whampoa Dock Co. Ltd., and the Taikoo Dockyard and Engineering Co. of Hong Kong, Ltd., which together have an annual building potential of 80,000 gross tons, are equipped with the most up-to-date machinery and have facilities to carry out any major repairs, including the com- plete re-winding of large motors, the balancing of turbine rotors, electrical repairs on any scale, repairs to sanitary and refrigerating systems, and under-water work.
There are six granite dry-docks in the Colony, the largest of which is 787 ft. over-all and 93 ft. 4 ins. wide. There are two stationary hammerhead cranes capable of lifting up to 150 tons. Other facilities available are ocean-going tugs, harbour repair launches, a crane barge equipped with sheer- legs lifting up to 40 tons, and foundries capable of handling castings of up to 30 tons.
During 1955 the two large shipyards carried out repairs on 1,513 vessels, with an aggregate of approx. 7,850,900 gross tons. Apart from repair, the Hong Kong & Whampoa Dock Company carried out several major reconstructions, including the building of a new and lengthened centre section into an