Section 4 of the Hong Kong Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1978. Section 8 provides that the Governor in Council may authorise the employment, as master or officer
of any grade, in a British ship of the subject of any such foreign state as he
may specify, but this is assumed to be an exceptional provision rarely if ever invoked.)
A Separate Hong Kong Register
3
In 1971 Sir (then Mr) Y K Pao, supported by some other local shipowners,
proposed to the Hong Kong Government that there should be an autonomous Hong Kong
register. After discussions between the two Governments the matter was deferred.
A detailed account of the discussions is given in Annex A. In February last
year the then Head of Marine Division visited Hong Kong. He subsequently reported
that the issue might well be raised again formally even if not pressed so hard.
He also expressed disquiet "about a situation in which a little over 1 million grt of shipping was registered in Hong Kong whereas Hong Kong shipowners are now
thought to own about 50 million deadweight tons, almost all registered under
flags of convenience, bearing in mind the moves currently being made in UNCTAD,
IMCO and by the ITF against such flags". He considered that a long term-
training programme for sea-going officers should be established in Hong Kong.
In October the UNCTAD Secretariat published a study showing that Hong Kong
'beneficially owned' 42.4 million dwt under seven flags of convenience, including
just under a million tons registered in Hong Kong (for the Secretariat's
'reasons' for regarding Hong Kong as a flag on convenience see the separate
brief on Bilateralism in the Bulk Trades). The total grt registered in Hong
Kong is now just over 1.4 million. In December the Chairman of the Hong Kong Shipowners Association (Mr Marden) raised the matter again against the background
of increasing international pressure aginst flags of convenience represented by the ITF compaign and by current discussions in UNCTAD. And Sir Y K Pao
has suggested that the Hong Kong Government should set up a special expert
committee to study the question in depth. Pao appears to have in mind the
retention of British certification, though not British nationality, of officers.
It seems clear that with the international climate hardening against FCO Pao
F
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.