ENG-2019 — Page 272

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Transport

Kong's strengths in the industry, so as to enhance the territory's position as an international maritime centre.

In November, the board organised the fourth Hong Kong Maritime Week to promote Hong Kong as a preferred base for maritime businesses and to offer a networking platform. It also aimed to raise public awareness of the economic contributions made by the port and maritime sectors and the prospects of maritime careers.

The board organises promotional visits to overseas and Mainland economies to raise Hong Kong's profile as an international maritime centre and promote its quality and professional high value-added maritime services. Trips were made to Copenhagen, Oslo, Bergen, London, Guangxi and Shanghai in 2019.

Maritime and Aviation Training Fund

The maritime and aviation sectors receive government support in manpower development via the Maritime and Aviation Training Fund. This fund supports various scholarships and training and promotion initiatives to build up a diversified and competitive pool of professionals and technical personnel. During the year, $200 million was injected into the fund to sustain and enhance existing training schemes and scholarships, and to launch new initiatives for the maritime and aviation sectors. The fund's annual internship scheme provided about 530 maritime and aviation internship opportunities for young people. A new Local Vessel Competency Enhancement Scheme was launched to encourage more local holders of the Coxswain/Engine Operator Grade 3 Certificate of Competency to acquire the Grade 2 Certificate of Competency qualification, so as to boost the manpower supply of the local vessel trade.

Hong Kong Shipping Register

The Hong Kong Shipping Register, administered by the Marine Department, ranked fourth in the world in 2019 in terms of gross tonnage. As at end-December, the registered ships recorded 127 million gross tonnage in total. To ensure the Hong Kong-registered ships' compliance with international standards, the department conducts a quality control assessment before allowing ships to join the register and implements a Flag State Quality Control System. The Port State Control detention rate of Hong Kong-registered ships is well below the world average, putting the Hong Kong flag among the top performance flags in the white list under the Tokyo Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and Paris MoU of Port State Control, Hong Kong also holds the United States Coast Guard's Qualship 21 status.

Marine Accident Investigations

The department's Marine Accident Investigation and Shipping Security Policy Branch investigates all serious accidents on board Hong Kong-registered ships and ships in Hong Kong waters. The purpose of an investigation is to determine the circumstances and possible causes of an accident and to recommend preventive measures. In 2019, the branch investigated 30 serious accidents. To raise awareness of maritime safety, the investigation reports of all serious accidents are published on the department's website.

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