TNAG-0357-FCO40-393-Registration-of-merchant-shipping-in-Hong-Kong-1972 — Page 100

CONFIDENTIAL

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CALL ON THE PRIME MINISTER BY MR. Y. K. PAO

Y. K. Pao was born in China in 1920 and lived there until

1949, when he went to Hong Kong. He has built up one of the

largest shipping fleets in the world (World wide Shipping Ltd.)

and by 1975 is expected to own about ten million tons, making

his fleet larger than that of Onassis and Niarchos combined.

Shipping matters

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2. Mr. Pao will most likely wish to discuss the problem of

registration of his fleet. This is at present under flags of convenience and he would prefer to sail under a Hong Kong flag. At present this means sailing under a British flag.

alternative that he may put forward is that there should be a

separate Hong Kong registration (which would enable his ships

to sail to China). But a separate registration would still mean following similar standards to those maintained by British shipping.

3. There are two problems which Mr. Pao may raise in this

context. The first is the detailed specifications of materials and equipment required by British ships. Mr. Pao's vessels are

mainly built in Japan and he may say that keeping up these British standards leads to delays. The Prime Minister could point out that Japanese yards do already meet the British requirements when

they have had to do so for British vessels. The second problem is one of officer manning. British ships require that a certain proportion of the crew hold a British qualification and in effect

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CONFIDENTIAL

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