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and conventional ferries plying this route. A further 127,268 passengers were carried on the hoverferry service between Hong Kong and Guangzhou (Canton) in China, which is operated by the Hongkong and Yaumati Ferry Company Limited.
For ships calling at Hong Kong, quarantine and immigration facilities are available on a 24-hour basis at the Western Quarantine Anchorage, and from 6.30 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Eastern Quarantine Anchorage. Ships are normally cleared inwards on arrival and large passenger vessels are processed on the way to their allocated berths. Advance immigration clearance and radio pratique may be obtained by certain vessels on application.
Surveyors of the Marine Department are available to survey any British or foreign ship and issue safety certificates under the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974, and other international safety conventions. Examinations for certificates of competency as masters, mates and engineers are held regularly on scheduled dates and certificates of competency issued by Hong Kong are recognised by the Department of Trade in the United Kingdom and are entitled to Commonwealth validity.
Pilotage in Hong Kong is not compulsory, but is considered advisable because of the density of traffic and the scale of harbour works continually undertaken. The Pilotage Authority in Hong Kong is the Director of Marine.
Navigational aids in the harbour and its approaches are constantly being improved to ensure greater safety. All fairway buoys are lit and fitted with radar reflectors. In 1980, all the necessary changes were made to bring navigation buoys in Hong Kong waters into uniformity with the International Association of Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) Maritime Buoyage System 'A'. Marine Department signal stations at Waglan Island, Green Island, North Point and the Port Communications Centre are all interconnected by telephone, radio- telephone and teleprinter circuits. The Marine Department operates a continuous VHF radio-telephone port operations service based on international maritime frequencies, which gives comprehensive marine communications throughout the harbour and its approaches. Marine Department teleprinter/telex facilities are linked directly to users on a worldwide basis. There is also a continuously monitored disaster network which links the Marine Department's Search and Rescue Co-ordination Centre to aircraft of the Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force and military helicopters, marine police and fire services launches and other similar facilities. In the event of a vessel experiencing difficulties in the South China Sea, within about 1,300 kilometres of Hong Kong, the Marine Department acts as a rescue co-ordinating centre.
A watch on shipping, fairways, typhoon shelters and cargo-working areas is kept by Marine Department launch patrols. The launches are in continuous radio contact with the Port Communications Centre, enabling the centre to initiate and co-ordinate any action required in unusual circumstances. A fleet of fire-fighting vessels operated by the Fire Services Department is kept in a state of readiness, and units are stationed on both sides of the harbour.
Good bunkering facilities are provided in the port, and vessels may be supplied with fuel oil either from wharves at oil terminals or from a fleet of floating oilers. Fresh water is obtainable at commercial wharves or from waterboats that service vessels at anchor or at government mooring buoys. A harbour telephone service is available at buoys and wharves. There are extensive facilities in Hong Kong for repairing, maintaining and dry-docking, or slipping, all types and classes of vessels up to about 228 metres in length and 26.8 metres beam. New facilities on the west coast of Tsing Yi Island have continued to develop and there are now five floating dry-docks located off Tsing Yi - the largest of which is capable