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TRANSPORT

Communications Centre. Well-equipped fleets of fire boats, tugs, and marine police vessels are also readily available to respond to emergencies in the harbour.

The Marine Department, by international agreement, is the Maritime Search and Rescue Co-ordinator for the area of the South China Sea north of Latitude 10°N and west of Longitude 120°E, excluding the immediate coastal waters of neighbouring states. The Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre can be manned at any time on receipt of an emergency message through the various international emergency communication channels which are continuously monitored, and a full Search and Rescue Mission can then be activated and run by staff fully trained in search and rescue techniques. Various search and rescue units are available for use in the form of vessels, aircraft (both fixed and rotary wing), and additional assistance can be obtained from the Rescue Co-ordination Centres of other states in the region.

The implementation phase of a Vessel Traffic System to reduce navigational risks in Hong Kong waters commenced in January 1987 and is expected to be completed in 1989.

The system will consist of five remote radar sites located at Black Point, north-east Lantau, Shek Kwu Chau, Bluff Head and Waglan Island, with the Vessel Traffic Centre located at the new Macau Ferry Terminal. It is intended that the system will be put into operation by phases as major elements are installed.

Bunkering facilities within the port are readily available to all vessels at wharves, oil terminals, or from a large fleet of bunkering barges. Fresh water can also be provided at alongside berths, or from a private fleet of fresh water boats.

The port has extensive facilities for repairing, dry-docking, and slipping all types of vessels, including oil rigs. Vessels of up to 40 000 tonnes deadweight, and 230 metres in length can be accommodated. A large number of minor shipyards are available to undertake repairs to small vessels, and are also equipped to build and maintain sophis- ticated patrol craft and pleasure vessels.

Hong Kong is a prominent centre for shipowning and management activities. As a British port of registry, the tonnage of shipping registered in Hong Kong is of significance internationally. Despite a general recession in world shipping, the Hong Kong registered fleet reached eight million gross tons during the year, bringing the position of the Hong Kong shipping register to within the 10 largest registers in the world. The regulatory administration of ships registered in Hong Kong is the responsibility of the Shipping Division of the Marine Department, in respect of maritime control, safety standards and international certification to facilitate their world-wide operation. Hong Kong shipowners also control a significant percentage of the world's deadweight tonnage other than those registered in Hong Kong. Most local shipowners and associated businesses are represented by the Hong Kong Shipowners Association.

Ships registered in Hong Kong adopt, in all key aspects, the same standards of construction, safety, manning and merchant shipping legislation as those registered in the United Kingdom. This status cannot continue beyond 1997. The Sino-British Joint Declaration provides that the future Hong Kong Special Administrative Region may continue to maintain a shipping register under its own legislation. It is therefore necessary to modify existing laws and administration systems applicable to Hong Kong, concerning registration and merchant shipping, to put them into a form in which they can continue to exist under British administration until 1997 and under the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region thereafter.

The Sino-British Joint Liaison Group at its fourth meeting in July 1986 agreed on the general principles to be adopted for establishing a modified register of shipping for