ENG-1959 — Page 84

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HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT

barge with sheerlegs of 40 tons lifting capacity, are available. Other facilities include foundries which can handle castings up to 30 tons, ocean-going towage and salvage vessels, and a fleet of harbour repair launches.

Throughout 1959, the shipyards in the Colony were kept busy notwithstanding the present world depression in shipping. A number of cargo vessels were launched and delivered during the year from Hong Kong yards and special purpose vessels, such as river craft and vehicular ferries, were completed and delivered to their buyers.

The smaller local yards build a variety of wooden and steel craft such as lighters, launches, Chinese junks and sampans, yachts and other pleasure craft, many of which find a ready and expanding market overseas due to the high standard of con- struction at competitive prices.

The closure after 80 years of operation, of the Naval Dockyard which employed over 5,000 men and had a local payroll of some $12,000,000 a year, was a serious loss to the Colony's economy. The circumstances of the closure are dealt with more fully in Chapter 3 of this Report.

Ship-breaking and Steel Rolling Mills. There has been a rapid expansion during the last two years in the ship-breaking industry and Hong Kong is now acknowledged to be the world's largest ship-breaking centre. At present over fifty per cent of the scrap produced from ships broken up locally is exported to Japan, but a substantial and increasing proportion is used in the Colony's steel rolling mills, which produce an estimated 6,000 tons per month of mild steel reinforcing bars, approximately 60% of the requirements of the Colony's building industry. A sizeable quan- tity of rods and bars is shipped abroad, principally to Asian territories.

There are also several rolling mills which produce stainless steel, brass and aluminium sheets and circles, most of which is sold locally for the manufacture of consumer goods.

LIGHT INDUSTRIES

Textiles. Since 1948 the textile industry has expanded rapidly to become the Colony's major industry. Spinning of cotton, rayon,