ENG-1953 — Page 94

HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT, 1953

annual fee for registration. No financial assistance has been given by Government towards the development of industry or handicrafts.

The vast majority of industrial concerns in the Colony are Chinese-owned and operated.

Heavy Industries

The rise of the shipbuilding and repairing industry followed rapidly upon Hong Kong's development as one of the world's great ports. There is a total of twenty shipbuilding and repair- ing establishments in the Colony employing among them some 7,000 workers, but the great majority of these are small con- cerns dealing with wooden vessels, lighters, launches, ferries, and other small craft. The industry is centred mainly on the Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock Company Ltd., and the Taikoo Dockyard and Engineering Company Ltd. Together they are capable of producing 80,000 tons of new shipping a year. Modern cranes and machinery enable them to apply the latest methods of construction to both welded and rivetted ships. Vessels up to 500 feet in length can be accommodated on the building berths. The list of vessels built in Hong Kong em- braces practically every type of craft afloat: yachts, motor launches, dumb lighters, tugs, river craft, inter-island coasters, and cargo and passenger liners of all kinds.

The Taikoo Dockyard launched and completed a motor cargo and passenger vessel for service on the Malayan coast and a 2,000 ton deadweight motor cargo vessel for Norwegian owners, and launched a sister ship to the latter which will be completed early in 1954. In addition, this company laid the keel for a 6,500 ton motor ship which is to be followed by a similar ship in 1954.

Both companies also undertook engine building and ship- repairing. Currently under construction at Taikoo Dockyard are a 1,500 B.H.P. Taikoo-Sulzer and a 4,500 B.H.P. Taikoo-

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