XN000022-1996-03-30 — Page 6

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Passenger ship sets for final journey

The passenger ferry, Zenith, which was beached off Kau Yi Chau since last July, weighed its anchor this (Saturday) afternoon to commence the final leg of her journey to a shipyard in Guangdong for scrapping.

The vessel caught fire on the night of July 19 last year while under repairs in Hong Kong. A few hours later she was beached to facilitate fire fighting.

It took the firemen three days to extinguish the blaze. Though fortunately none of her 31 crew members were hurt, the ship sustained extensive damages.

"The Government's involvement with the Zenith incident does not just end with putting out the fire." Senior Marine Officer (Vessel Traffic Centre), Marine Department, Mr Francis Liu said.

"As a port administration, the Marine Department is obliged to protect the integrity of the port and to ensure this stricken vessel will not be hazardous to our port facilities, the environment and other port users," he said.

The department seized the vessel late last October when the owner failed to comply with repeated orders to remove it.

The 106-metre passenger vessel was then put up for sale by tender after clearing all legal formalities. Six companies responded to the sale notice and submitted their bids before the closing date on December 1, 1995.

A local company which acted as an agent for a shipyard in Guangdong assumed the new ownership with a price tag of more than $1.66 million.

A large part of the proceeds of sale was used to settle the claims for wages for the crew. The remainder covered the pilotage and tug charges and part of the port dues.

"I am glad that the crew members are able to recover their wages through our effort as we are obliged also to protect the interests of seafarers," Mr Liu said.

"We aim at removing the ship before the new typhoon season," he said, adding that the vessel would become a potential threat to the environment and the port when the typhoon season begins.