TNAG-0358-FCO40-394-Registration-of-merchant-shipping-in-Hong-Kong-1972 — Page 83

permit the Hong Kong Government to establish a separate register but, unless this was accompanied by changes in present manning requirements, this could be regarded as an empty gesture merely resulting in a register containing details of the ships being kept in Hong Kong instead of in the central register maintained by the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamon at Cardiff. The Foreign Secretary has suggested

that we should consult the Hong Kong Government about whether the concessions on safety standards and manning which we are prepared to offer would be adequate for their purpose, and whether the transfer of the register might not lead to new pressures to lower standards; but that if they still press for a separate register we should then be willing in principle to concede this though not necessarily all the other relaxations in manning standards they are asking for.

This may tactically be the right way to deal with the Hong Kong Government.

3.

If it was ultimately agreed to consider allowing Hong Kong to set up a separate register accompanied by greater flexibility in respect of manning requirements, the main considerations on which we would need to be satisfied would be:-

4.

(a)

(b)

that this would not lead to a lowering of standards of qualifications; and

that if more flexible manning requirements were permitted in Hong Kong ships they would not cause the owners of ships registered in the UK to seek to transfer them to the Hong Kong register.

Although the Hong Kong Government does not intend that standards should be reduced, they favour the acceptance for service on Hong Kong registered ships of aliens holding certificates of certain reputable Western European countries at all levels except Master, and also want to permit Hong Kong long term residents to be eligible to qualify for all Hong Kong certificates of competency other than at Master level. If these changes were to be conceded, UK shipowners who also experience difficulty in obtaining sufficient UK certificated officers for their ships might very well want to transfer their ships to the Hong Kong register. This would have to be prevented by ensuring that registration on the Hong Kong register is strictly confined to bona fide Hong Kong residents and companies - a description that would need to be carefully defined. Unless this were done, there would be a storm of protest from the UK seafarers' organisations who would see the transfer of ships from the UK to the Hong Kong register as a serious loss of job opportun- ity for their members. However, if adequate safeguards can be introduced we could explain to those organisations the need to take action along these lines because of the special situation in that territory, stressing that not only would there be no drift from the UK to the Hong Kong register but also that there would be an appreciable increase in the ships on the Hong Kong register. Although such ships would be able to employ foreign certificated officers at all levels other than Master, the fact that there would be more ships could result in more not less job opportunities for British officers.

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