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MONDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1978
CONTAINERISATION SEMINAR OPENED
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NEARLY 90,000 VESSELS OF ALL TYPES ENTERED AND CLEARED THE PORT OF HONG KONG LAST YEAR, HANDLING A TOTAL OF 25 MILLION DEADWEIGHT TONS OF CARGO, THE DIRECTOR OF MARINE, MR. M.J. ALEXANDER, SAID TODAY (MONDAY).
MR. ALEXANDER WAS SPEAKING IN THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL CHAMBER AT THE OPENING OF A TWO-WEEK SEMINAR ON CONTAINER ISATION, ORGANISED BY THE UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC (ESCAP) IN CO-OPERATION WITH THE HONG KONG AND NORWEGIAN GOVERNMENTS.
MR. ALEXANDER SAID IN TERMS OF TONNAGE OF SHIPPING USING ITS FACILITIES, THE AMOUNT OF CARGO HANDLED AND THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS CARRIED WITHIN IT, HE BELIEVED HONG KONG TO BE THE SEVENTH LARGEST PORT IN THE WORLD.
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+AT ANY ONE TIME,+ MR. ALEXANDER SAID, THERE ARE ABOUT 100 OCEAN-GOING SHIPS AND 5.000 LOCAL CRAFT WORKING OR UNDERWAY IN THE HARBOUR, AND OUR FLEET OF LOCALLY-BASED SMALL SKIPS COMPRISING FISHING BOATS, CARGO LIGHTERS, PLEASURE CRAFT AND THE LIKE, TOTALS MORE THAN 15,000.+
HE SAID ABOUT 170 MILLION PASSENGERS USED THE INTERNAL FERRIES EACH YEAR AND FIVE AND A HALF MILLION MADE THE JOURNEY TO AND FROM MACAU.
A RECENT SAMPLE SURVEY HAD INDICATED THAT, ON AVERAGE, CONVENTIONAL SHIPS WORKING CARGO AT BUOYS WERE IN PORT FOR 2.8 DAYS AND CONTAINER SHIPS WERE HERE FOR JUST TWO AND A HALF HOURS, INCLUDING STEAMING, BERTHING AND UNBERTHING TIME.
MR. ALEXANDER TOLD THE DELEGATES FROM 13 COUNTRIES IN THE REGION THAT THE INCREASING AND CHANGING DEMANDS ON THE PORT HAD LONG FORCED HONG KONG TO KEEP UP TO DATE WITH PLANNING TO ENSURE THAT THE INSTALLATIONS NECESSARY TO IMPROVE ITS WORK ING EFFICIENCY AND SAFETY WERE PROVIDED WHEN AND WHERE NEEDED.
+KEEPING UP TO DATE HAS PROVED PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT IN RECENT YEARS WHEN LARGER, FASTER AND MORE SOPHISTICATED VESSELS ARE BEING USED AND WHEN THE COST OF CONSTRUCTING AND RUNNING THESE VESSELS IS SUCH THAT THEY MUST SPEND AS LITTLE TIME IN PORT AS POSSIBLE,+ HE SAID.
HE CONTINUED: +SO, TODAY, WE HAVE NEARLY 250 MODERN NAVIGATIONAL AIDS STRATEGICALLY LOCATED THROUGHOUT HONG KONG WATERS TO GUIDE SHIPS TO AND FROM THE IR BERTHS.+
THERE ARE ALSO 71 MOORING BUOYS FOR VESSELS OF UP TO 180 METRES IN LENGTH AND WHARVES FOR SHIPS OF LENGTH OF UP TO 300 METRES. PRIVATE OPERATORS DEVELOPED EXTENSIVE AND EFFICIENT CONTAINER FACILITIES AND THE KWAI CHUNG CONTAINER TERMINAL, COMPLETED IN 1976, COULD PROVIDE BERTHS FOR SIX THIRD-GENERATION CONTAINER SHIPS SIMULTANEOUSLY IN WHAT WAS NOW, IN TERMS OF CONTAINER ISATION, THE FOURTH LARGEST CONTAINER PORT IN THE WORLD, AFTER NEW YORK, ROTTERDAM AND KOBE.
MR. ALEXANDER..