The shipping platform

Location: Hong Kong is situated off the coast of southern China in the South China Sea. It lies at the mouth of the Pearl River Delta. General overview: Hong Kong possesses one of the most perfect natural harbours in the world. At the centre of the Asia-Pacific Basin and strategically placed on the Far East trade routes, the port has been a key factor in the development of the area. Port facilities include approx 8,500m of quays at Kwai Chung-Tsing Yi Basin, with nine terminals providing 20 berths for large vessels; approx 7,804m of quays at public cargo working areas; and 29 mooring buoys for ocean going vessels. There are eight public cargo working areas all of which are managed by the Marine Department. These are located at Tuen Mun; Yau Ma Tei; Kwun Tong; Western District; Rambler Channel; Chai Wan; Stonecutters Island and Cha Kwo Ling. Hong Kong has four public passenger ferry terminals, which include China Ferry Terminal, Macau Ferry Terminal, Tuen Mun Ferry Terminal and Sky-Pier, also a private cruise terminal. Hong Kong Harbour (also known as Victoria Harbour) covers an area of 4,900ha and varies in width between 1.2km and 9.6km. There are, on average, around 100 ocean going vessels working in the port; nearly 500 river trade vessels entering or leaving the port; the moorings include typhoon buoys to which vessels can lie during tropical storms. Hong Kong was returned to China on July 1, 1997, and became a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of that country. However, due to the special nature of Hong Kong, the entry has been kept separate from the China section. Traffic figures: Approx 277,444,000t of cargo, 24,384,000TEU, 24,508,000 ferry passengers to and from Mainland China and Macau and 80,900 river passenger vessels. The port handles approx 179,150 river vessels and 32,600 ocean vessels annually. Load line zone: Summer. Max size: Container vessels (KC berth): LOA 410m, draught 15.0m plus tide less10% UKC. Bulk Carriers (CL Power Station): LOA 280m, draught 16.8m plus tide less 10% UKC.