ENG-1997 — Page 317

TRANSPORT

Various international conventions which were extended to Hong Kong before July 1, 1997, continue to apply to Hong Kong after the reversion of sovereignty to China. Since Hong Kong waters have become internal waters of China, administrative procedures for the conventions such as reporting to the IMO, liaison with neighbouring countries and areas that apply only voluntarily to internal waters of a country will be changed. In 1997, Hong Kong representatives attended 23 meetings on various subjects.

Hong Kong was particularly active on several issues, including measures to control air pollution from ships, contamination by transport of aquatic organisms in ballast water, major revision and interpretation of a chapter on fire prevention within the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, revision of the High Speed Craft Code, safety management systems for ships and bulk carrier safety, which will have long-term effects on Hong Kong registered ships as well as ships owned or managed by Hong Kong companies.

Maritime Search and Rescue

The responsibility of co-ordinating all maritime search and rescue operations within a sea area of 450 000 square kilometres of the South China Sea, as agreed internationally, is undertaken by the Marine Department, whose Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre is manned 24 hours a day by professionally-trained staff. The centre is one of the few fully operational shore-based radio stations of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System. Calling upon resources provided by other government departments, the centre provides an effective and efficient search and rescue service in the region.

During 1997, the centre handled 260 cases of notified vessel emergency, of which 52 developed into search and rescue operations. A total of 178 lives were saved.

Port State Control

As a committee member of the Asia-Pacific Regional Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control, the Marine Department has the obligation to ensure that foreign merchant ships visiting Hong Kong comply with the provisions of various international safety and environmental protection conventions. To discharge this function, the department's surveyors carry out selective inspections for those ships.

During 1997, 501 port state control inspections were conducted on foreign merchant ships visiting Hong Kong. This represented about 11 per cent of the total number of ships visiting Hong Kong. About 38.32 per cent had deficiencies which had to be made good before they could leave Hong Kong.

Services in the Port

Mainland and Macau Ferry Services

The number of passengers using the two ferry terminals managed by the Marine Department was 6.9 million in the China Ferry Terminal (CFT) and 11 million in the Macau Ferry Terminal (MFT), representing a decrease of 6.5 per cent and 16.6 per cent compared with last year's figure. Improvements to the terminals such as

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