ENG-2019 — Page 269

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Transport

employees' services approved by the Transport Department. The government estimates the annual subsidy will amount to around $2.3 billion and will benefit over 2.2 million commuters.

The Port

Hong Kong is an international maritime centre and a regional hub port. During the year, 320,000 ocean-going vessels from all parts of the world and river-trade vessels from the Pearl River visited and left Hong Kong, involving around 260 million tonnes of cargo and 18 million cross- boundary ferry and cruise passenger journeys. Many high-speed ferries and local vessels operate in, or pass through, the harbour. Hong Kong is also one of the world's busiest container ports, handling around 18 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers in 2019.

Port Administration

The Marine Department administers the port, with its principal task to ensure the safety of navigation and efficiency of shipping activities in Hong Kong waters. This is achieved through comprehensive traffic management, harbour patrols, vessel traffic services, provision of aids to navigation and mooring buoys, and strict enforcement of the rules and standards of major international maritime conventions.

The department liaises closely with shipping and commercial organisations and takes advice on port administration from users and operators of port facilities through a number of advisory and consultative committees.

The department's website provides information on the port, the shipping register and its services and facilities. Its Electronic Business System simplifies and speeds up the processing of port formalities, including the submission and auto-approval of applications, self-printing of permits and certificates, payment via auto-pay and checking of application status.

Port Infrastructure, Facilities and Services

Marine civil works are essential to keep the port running smoothly. The Civil Engineering and Development Department carries out maintenance work on public landing steps, ferry piers and terminals, the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, breakwaters and other public marine facilities, and regular maintenance dredging of the harbour, navigation channels and major river channels. It maintains 506 hectares of typhoon shelters, 5km of quays at public cargo working areas, 127km of seawalls and breakwaters, 323 piers and landing steps, 101 dolphin mooring structures, 109 beacons, 14,100 hectares of fairways and 3,590 hectares of anchorage areas.

The department also plans, designs and builds public marine facilities. In 2019, it completed the reconstruction of Sharp Island Pier and continued to plan and design a new public landing facility at Lei Yue Mun. Site investigation works and technical studies for pier improvement works at remote public piers in the New Territories and outlying islands were under way, with the department preparing to start detailed design work in 2020.

Container handling facilities are a key part of the logistics infrastructure. The nine container terminals at the Kwai Chung-Tsing Yi area, all privately run, handle about 78 per cent of Hong Kong's container throughput and have 24 berths with a total handling capacity of more than

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