Keynote Address

Mr. S.Y. Tsui J.P.

Director of Marine

The Dynamic Port of Hong Kong

1. It is a proud privilege for me, a marine engineer by profession to be

addressing a seminar organized by Nautical Institute; Hong Kong branch.

Fortunately the seminar is not on nautical subjects but is about the Port of Hong Kong

which is very near and dear to my heart and very much concerned with my job.

 

2. I see that the Nautical Institute has chosen eminent speakers who are

experts in their own field, namely history of the port, economy,

container port, safety of mega passenger ships, shipmanagement, etc.

and this seminar should be very interesting and very absorbing for you

all. Hong Kong's history traces back to 1841 when the British occupied

Hong Kong Island. It was only a barren island off the Southeast coast

of China. Do you know why the British chose Hong Kong not Macau

or any other place around this region? Because it was a natural harbour.

The water inside Victoria Harbour and the channels leading into

Victoria Harbour were deep and it provided an excellent shelter from

the typhoons sweeping across the South China Seas.

 

3. The success story of Hong Kong is well known. Devoid of natural

resources, shattered in 1941 by war, inundated since then by successive

waves of refugees, Hong Kong has survived all. Propelled by the work

ethic and industry of its inhabitants, and the skill and flexibility of its

entrepreneurs, given by its Government social and financial stability, it

has thrust itself into the very front ranks of commercial and trading

centres. The boost to the port of Hong Kong came in the mid-1970s

when China opened its door to foreign trade. It was natural for the

world to route the trade through Hong Kong port as it has the

infrastructure and was user-friendly. Hong Kong was and still is a free

port. Trade can pass through Hong Kong with least amount of

formalities. We would like to keep it that way.

 

4. The first container terminal was developed in 1972. Since then we have

added 7 more terminals and one is under construction. Hong Kong has

been No. 1 container port since 1992 except for 1998 when Singapore

handled more containers than Hong Kong. I am sure with dynamic

container operators here, we should be able to retain our position in the

near future. Mr. Christensen will elaborate on this subject later.

 

5. Hong Kong is one of the busiest ports in this part of the world. Last

year the movement of ocean-going vessels, i.e. arrival and departure

amounted to 74,830 which means that an ocean-going ship was either

leaving or arriving into Hong Kong every 7 minutes. In addition, the

movement of river trade vessels amounted to 358,470. This is inclusive

of 119,690 voyages made by Hi-Speed Craft between Hong Kong and

Pearl River delta ports carrying a total of 17.08 million passengers.

 

6. The present VTS System we have was set up in 1989. With the recent

technological advancements and necessity to effectively manage the

mixed traffic of ocean-going ships, river trade vessels from China and

the local vessels, we decided to upgrade our VTS System. The new

VTS System will come into operation early next year. The system will

provide the latest technology such as AIS (Automatic Identification

System), ECDIS (Electronic Chart Display and Information System),

CCTVs (Close Circuit Televisions) etc. We hope to improve our

services to meet the future traffic needs.

 

7.You may ask me as to how safe is our port? I can assure you that it is

very safe. In 1998 we had only 10 serious or very serious incidents, in

1999 it was 11 and in 2000, there was only one incident. There was no

serious or very serious incident in the first half of this year. It is a

challenge for us to keep the port safe with so much traffic. In addition

to the VTS System, we have Harbour Patrol Service to monitor and

regulate the traffic in the busy areas and black spots.

 

8. What is the future of this port? Well! I will leave it to the speakers to

talk about it. As far as I am concerned, it will continue to be bright and

all those connected with the maritime field will have a role to play in

the prosperity of Port of Hong Kong. Hi-tech is being used in almost all

the industries including shipping. Most of the ships these days have

satellite navigation receivers and ARPA. New ships are required to

have on board Automatic Identification Systems and many ships are

being fitted with electronic charts. IMO is working towards computer

based training for seafarers. We in Hong Kong are looking into the

technology available to develop the e-navigation capabilities for ships

visiting Hong Kong.

 

9. I see the students from the Polytechnic University and Tsing Yi Marine

Institute have been invited by the Nautical Institute to listen to the great

speakers today. They are the future of this port. They have a great role

to play. I hope more and more youngsters will take up the seafaring and

maritime related career to be a part of this prosperous and wonderful

Port of Hong Kong.