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Transport

Marine Industrial Safety

The department's Marine Industrial Safety Section enforces safety requirements on works carried out on board vessels, including cargo handling, ship repair and marine construction, under the Shipping and Port Control (Works) Regulation and the Merchant Shipping (Local Vessels) (Works) Regulation. It conducts safety checks on such works and promotes safe working practices and regulations.

Port Development

The department provides professional advice on the planning of projects that affect port and marine traffic. Maritime and port statistics on vessel movements and container throughput are published periodically on its website.

The government is taking forward a series of enhancement measures recommended under the 'Study on the Strategic Development Plan for Hong Kong Port 2030' and the 'Proposals for Enhancing the Use of Port Back-up Land in Kwai Tsing, with a view to improving port operational efficiency.

Maritime Industry

About 50 international shipping lines offer ocean liner services in Hong Kong, with about 320 sailings weekly to around 470 destinations worldwide. More than 800 maritime services-related companies operate in the territory, providing ship management, ship broking and chartering, marine insurance and maritime legal and arbitration services. Hong Kong is also a ship finance centre in the region. According to the Hong Kong Shipowners Association, Hong Kong's ship owners own or manage almost 10 per cent of the world's merchant fleet in terms of deadweight tonnage.

Hong Kong has in place double taxation relief arrangements covering shipping income with 45 tax administrations.

Hong Kong Maritime and Port Board

The Hong Kong Maritime and Port Board is a high-level advisory body chaired by the Secretary for Transport and Housing and comprises industry figures from various maritime and port sectors. It aims at creating a maritime business-friendly environment, nurturing local maritime talent and promoting Hong Kong's strengths in the maritime and port industry, so as to establish the territory's position as an international maritime centre.

In 2017, board delegations visited London, Hamburg, Tokyo, Shanghai and Beijing. Such visits help raise Hong Kong's profile as an international maritime centre and promote its quality and professional maritime services. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in September with Maritime London, a promotional body for companies based in the United Kingdom, to strengthen Hong Kong-UK collaboration in promoting high-value-added maritime services and the training of maritime practitioners.

The board also organised the 2nd Hong Kong Maritime Week in November to unite and showcase the local maritime industry as a strong cluster, raise the community's awareness of

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