ENG-1992 — Page 270

TRANSPORT

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The port as a whole is administered by the Marine Department, which is responsible for all aspects of Hong Kong's maritime affairs. The principal function of the department in relation to the port is to ensure that conditions exist for ships to enter port, work their cargoes and depart as quickly and safely as possible.

The Director of Marine is the Pilotage Authority and is advised by the Pilotage Advisory Committee. The authority has wide powers to regulate and control the pilotage service, although the pilots themselves operate as a private company. Tugs are also privately owned and operated. Ships over 5 000 gross registered tonnes are required to engage pilots when moving within the port and its approaches.

Immigration and quarantine facilities for vessels calling at Hong Kong are available round the clock at the Western Quarantine Anchorage. At the Eastern Quarantine Anchorage, these services are available between 6 am and 6 pm daily and, in the case of the quarantine service, on request through the Vessel Traffic Centre of the Marine Department. These services, including advance clearance, may be applied for by radio.

The Marine Department provides and maintains 76 mooring buoys within the port for ships to work cargo in the stream. There are two classes of buoy suitable for vessels up to 137 and 183 metres in length respectively. The majority of these are typhoon moorings to which vessels may remain secured during tropical storms, thus reducing operational costs.

In 1992, some 146 000 ocean-going and river-trade vessels called at Hong Kong and loaded and discharged more than 100 million tonnes of cargo, of which 55-per cent was containerised. This included 60 million tonnes of general goods from ocean-going vessels.

A variety of harbour craft play a significant role in the efficient running of the port. During the year over 1 800 lighters and 280 motorised cargo boats transported cargo to and from ocean-going ships in the anchorages and at buoys in the harbour, and private or public cargo working areas ashore. These are part of Hong Kong's 20 000 local vessels which include ferries, barges, fishing boats and pleasure vessels.

The port handled 7.97 million TEUS in 1992. Of these, about 67 per cent or 5.08 million TEUS were handled at Terminals 1 to 7 of the Kwai Chung Container Port, and another 33 per cent or 2.54 million TEUS from vessels in the stream. Expansion of container terminal facilities continued apace, with construction of the four berth Terminal 8 well advanced. This new terminal, with a capacity of 1.6 million TEUs, is being formed by reclamation at the north-western part of Stonecutters Island. Its first berth is scheduled to come into operation in 1993. Planning for the construction of Terminal 9 is progressing well with the first berth required in 1995.

The port has served Hong Kong's needs well. But it will not be able to cope in its present form if the growth in traffic volume experienced over the past decade continues as anticipated. Thus, plans are well advanced for major developments which, when completed, will more than double the port's capacity by 2006. The principal features are to develop container terminals together with other marine facilities on Tsing Chau Tsai peninsula on Lantau Island over the next decade. (See Chapter 17)

The government has always taken the view that it generally should not undertake activities which can be done commercially, and often more efficiently, by the private sector. In many ways Hong Kong leads the world in this respect and the port is an excellent example. Most of the port facilities, such as the container terminals and dockyards, are privately built, owned and operated.

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