ENG-1998 — Page 317

TRANSPORT

Participation in International Shipping Organisations

International Maritime Organisation

Hong Kong continues to participate in the activities of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) as an Associate Member in the name of 'Hong Kong, China'. Hong Kong takes part in most IMO meetings. During the year, Hong Kong attended 28 such meetings held in London. Hong Kong's main contributions at IMO in 1998 concerned standards of training and certification for seafarers, bulk carrier safety, radio communications, revision of high speed craft code, safety of navigation, fire protection, prevention of pollution and limitation of liability related matters.

Maritime Search and Rescue

The Marine Department's Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre co-ordinates all maritime search and rescue operations within the international waters of the South China Sea. The centre is manned 24 hours a day by professional staff and is fully equipped to complement 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.

In 1998, the centre handled 258 cases of notified vessel emergency, of which 72 developed into search and rescue operations with a total of 206 lives 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 1998, 816 port state control inspections were conducted on the foreign merchant ships visiting Hong Kong. This represented about 13 per cent of the total number of ships visiting Hong Kong. About 23 per cent had deficiencies which had to be made good before they could leave Hong Kong.

International Safety Management Code

The International Safety Management (ISM) Code was adopted by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in November 1993 and became applicable starting July 1, 1998, to passenger ships including passenger high-speed craft (HSC), oil and chemical tankers, gas carriers, bulk carriers, high-speed cargo vessels of 500 gross registered tonnes (GRT) and over. Other cargo ships of 500 GRT and over will need to comply with the Code by July 1, 2002.

The Marine Department has authorised seven classification societies to perform the ISM work relating to cargo ships. Companies operating the cargo ships are required to be audited by the recognised classification society ISM auditor, the department has participated in all such audits. The ship's audits are solely undertaken by the seven recognised classification societies. During the year, a total of 182 cargo ships were audited and issued with the required certificates.

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