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Following is a question by Hon Tam Heung-man and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Ms Eva Cheng, at the Legislative Council meeting today (October 17):
Question:
I have recently received a complaint from a resident of Ap Lei Chau alleging that very often, quite a number of large vessels sailing through the waters of Lamma Island and the Southern District emit black smoke, causing serious air pollution problems. Under certain wind directions, such pollutants seriously affect the residents of the flats on the seaside of the Southern District. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) other than the existing legislation concerned and the Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Air Pollution) Regulation (L.N. 149 of 2007) tabled in Council on July 11 this year, whether the Government has formulated any other control measures targeting at the emission of air pollutants by vessels sailing within waters of Hong Kong; if it had, of the details of such measures; and
(b) whether the Government has received, in the past three years, complaints regarding vessels emitting excessive air pollutants in the waters of the Southern District and Lamma Island; if it had, of the number of such complaints received and details of the follow-up actions taken; and whether it had instituted prosecution or issued warnings against the owners of the vessels involved; if it had, of the details?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) Smoke emissions from vessels are currently regulated under Section 50(1) of the Shipping and Port Control Ordinance, Cap. 313 and Section 51(1) of the Merchant Shipping (Local Vessels) Ordinance, Cap. 548, which stipulate that no vessel in the waters of Hong Kong shall emit smoke in such quantity as to be a nuisance. The Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Air Pollution) Regulation under the scrutiny of the LegCo will give effect to the standards of the International Maritime Organisation in controlling emission of nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides, ozone depleting gases, volatile hydrocarbon gases from ships; quality of fuels used on board; and the use of shipboard incinerators. The Marine Department (MD) is responsible for enforcement of the marine legislation in the waters of Hong Kong.
Apart from the above control measures, the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) has been monitoring the air quality of Hong Kong. EPD has established an air quality monitoring network with 14 monitoring stations to measure the air quality of Hong Kong. The general stations at Tsuen Wan, Kwai Chung, Sham Shui Po, Kwun Tong, Eastern and Central/Western are located along the Victoria Harbour and nearby areas. They can accurately monitor air quality impacts caused by air pollutants, including those from the Victoria Harbour. EPD also compiles inventory of air pollutants emitted in Hong Kong on a yearly basis; the inventory includes emission of particulates, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds both on land and at sea.
(b) MD received a total of seven complaints on smoke emissions from vessels in the waters off Hong Kong Island South and Lamma Island from 2004 to 2006. Details are as follows:
Year No.of complaints received Location
2004 0 ---
2005 2 1 in Aberdeen waters
1 in Lamma Island waters
2006 5 4 in Aberdeen waters
1 in Lamma Island waters
The patrol staff of MD has conducted investigations on all seven cases. Advice was issued in three cases to urge the vessel owners to take improvement measures. Four complaints were not substantiated as the emission of vessels in two cases were found to be normal, whereas the vessels referred to in the other two complaints could not be located by the patrol staff in the investigation.
No prosecution action was instituted nor warning issued by MD in these seven cases.
Ends/Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Issued at HKT 13:15
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