COMMUNICATIONS
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to 600 feet in length and 27 for vessels up to 450 feet in length. Under typhoon conditions 34 buoys are available for vessels up to 600 feet and seven for vessels up to 370 feet. Port improvement schemes continue to be implemented and an expansion scheme for the western harbour continued throughout the year. At the same time additional navigation aids were brought into operation. The year saw the completion of the central harbour scheme, with the completion of dredging and resiting of the remaining naval mooring. Commercial wharves can accommodate vessels up to 1,000 feet with a draught up to 36 feet.
The new ocean terminal, one of the best equipped in the world, was opened by the Governor on 22nd March, and later the same day the British liner Canberra, the largest passenger ship yet to visit Hong Kong, berthed alongside. Situated on the west side of the Kowloon peninsula, alongside the Star Ferry -Pier, the terminal was built by the Hong Kong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown Company Limited, and provides berthing space for four ocean-going liners and 190,000 square feet of platform space on its marine deck for cargo-handling facilities. The first and second of the four floors in the 75-foot high building, above the marine deck, house the passenger concourse, offices for travel,-tour and hotel agents, restaurants, and a comprehensive shopping centre. About half the total cost of the project, which is estimated at $70 million, comes from public funds, largely comprising a grant of $6.35 million, and a loan of $26.9 million at 6 per cent interest, repayable over 20 years. The government's contribution also in- cludes a sum of $3.6 million to pay for the terminal's fourth deck, which doubles the building's car parking facilities to the extent of more than 1,100 bays.
Wharf and godown companies are estimated to have total storage of well over a million tons and can cater for the storage and tran- shipment of all types of refrigerated, dangerous and ordinary goods. During the year two modern multi-storey godowns equipped with cranes and mechanical handling equipment were completed at North Point, and storage facilities were further improved by a new transit shed of 45,000 square feet at Holt's Wharf. Most cargo handled in Hong Kong is at some stage transported by lighter. Some 2,400 lighters and junks exist for this purpose, more than 900