ENG-2010 — Page 322

268 Transport

coasters. The combined length of berths in these working areas is about 6 670

metres.

Collection of Marine Refuse and Waste

The Marine Department's contractors collect domestic refuse from both ocean-going vessels and local vessels. Sewage and oily chemical waste are collected from ships by registered collectors. The collected sewage is taken to the sewage treatment facility in the harbour for disposal, and the oily chemical waste is shipped to the Chemical Waste Treatment Centre on Tsing Yi Island for treatment.

Combating Oil Pollution

The Marine Department maintains a maritime oil spill response plan to ensure a timely and effective response to oil spills in Hong Kong waters.

The department has a co-operation arrangement with the port administration of Guangdong, Shenzhen and Macao, under which they adopt the Regional Maritime Oil Spill from Ship Response Plan for the Pearl River Estuary as the action. guide for regional co-operation on response to major maritime oil spills from ships.

In December 2010, the department's Pollution Control Unit organised a large-scale, oil spill clean-up drill with participants from the Guangdong, Shenzhen and Macao maritime administrations and other government departments to test the co-operative actions against oil pollution under the Regional Maritime Oil Spill from Ship Response Plan for the Pearl River Estuary, as well as to test the preparedness of the government departments concerned and local oil companies in handling major oil spills from ships.

Shipping

Hong Kong Shipping Register

The Hong Kong Shipping

Shipping Register (HKSR), administered by the Marine Department, is regarded highly as a world-class register providing excellent services.

The HKSR continued to attract quality ships in 2010. The total gross tonnage of ships registered in Hong Kong was close to 56.5 million, making the HKSR one of the top five shipping registers in the world.

To maintain high standards, the department conducts a Pre-registration Quality Control (PRQC) assessment of ships intending to join the register and implements a Flag State Quality Control (FSQC) System to ensure ships on the register comply with international standards. During the year, the department's surveyors carried out a total of 13 PRQC inspections and made 58 FSQC visits to ships and related companies.

As a result of these quality control measures, the Port State Control detention rate of Hong Kong-registered ships remained well below the world average, which enabled the Hong Kong flag to maintain its position among the top performance flags in the white list established by both the Paris and Tokyo Memorandums of