Bright future for Hong Kong Shipping Register

The future of the Hong Kong Shipping Register is buoyant, with about 40 ships with 1 million gross tonnes in the pipeline seeking registration in the next few months.

As of July, the register had 740 ocean-going ships of 24 million gross tonnes on its books, and officials hope to top 25 million tonnes this year.

"We are seeing more Chinese-owned ships and foreign ship-owners coming to Hong Kong to enquire how to place their ships on the Hong Kong Shipping Register," Director of Marine Tsui Shung-yiu said today (September 21).

He said that due to the implementation of the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code on July 1 this year, many ship-owners who had placed their vessels with flags of convenience were now looking at alternate registers, including Hong Kong, because of its quality services.

Having qualified in March for the tough US QUALSHIP 21 scheme -- introduced to eliminate substandard shipping and to provide incentives to owners who maintain quality operations -- the Marine Department is taking steps to maintain that position.

Mr Tsui said the department was conducting seminars for ship-owners and operators on the importance of signing up with seamen's unions before employing qualified seafarers for work on board their ships. This would help to avoid 'spats' with unions involving compliance with the International Labour Organisation Convention.

During the seminars, the department also shares its experience and those of its counterparts overseas with ship-owners and operators on avoiding the pitfalls that led to ship detentions under the ISPS Code, and on how to face the challenge of maintaining Hong Kong's QUALSHIP 21 status.

Mr Tsui said ISPS was generally working well in Hong Kong, and the security message had been disseminated widely to the maritime industry.

"But the greatest challenge is for those in the industry to closely follow the provisions of their security plans both on board their ships and at their port facilities," he said.

Ends/Tuesday, September 21, 2004