PUBLIC UTILITIES
service is maintained during the day and a regular service is maintained til well past midnight, the duration of the crossing being eight minutes. Approx- imately 36 million passengers were carried in 136,000 crossings during the year, the average daily load being 100,000.
It was a very interesting year for the Hongkong & Yaumati Ferry Co., Ltd. The first all-night passen- ger and vehicular ferry service ever to be operated in Hong Kong came into service on a trial basis between the 24th December, 1952, and the 1st January, 1953. A 20-minute schedule was maintained up to 3.00 a.m., followed by an hourly service thereafter. The normal daytime rates were charged to encourage traffic. This was heavy over Christmas but comparatively light on the other dates. There was no commercial traffic.
On the 19th December, 1952, at the request of Government, an emergency ferry service was operated between the Central and Wanchai districts of the Island which will only be maintained whilst the portion of Queen's Road between Arsenal Street and Garden Road is under reconstruction. A ten-minute service was operated between 8.00 and 9.30 a.m., and from 4.00 to 6.00 p.m. daily. The highest number of passengers carried in one day was about 2,000, and this service was much appreciated by the public. Passengers could be carried from one pier to the other and landed in just under 8 minutes.
On the 1st December, 1952, the "MAN FUNG” was launched. This is the first of the steel passenger ferries to be built in the United Kingdom, and was shipped out to Hong Kong for reassembly and comple- tion. Five sister vessels each capable of carrying 650 passengers were ordered, and these vessels with all their
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