The Hong Kong Government has announced a plan to establish a vessel height restricted area near the new Stonecutters Bridge to prevent damage to the bridge and ensure safe navigation that will be tabled in the Legislative Council June 4, said an HKG communique.
Opposed to the proposal is GHK (Hong Kong) consultant Jonathan Beard, who last week released an HKG-commissioned study on the needs of Hong Kong Harbour, and whose London-based firm GHK produced the 2005 Harbour Master Plan. He described the height limit as well as the building of the bridge itself as "unhelpful".
Dr Beard, whose study was commissioned by the Transport and Housing Bureau, said the bridge only prevented larger ships from calling at the harbour major terminals while doing little to ease Hong Kong transportation problems.
"It is not only a matter of cargo flow, but with this restriction, cranes will not be able to be delivered without cutting of their legs, which is another needless expensive," he said.
The proposed vessel height-restricted area covers 41.9 hectares when the 1.6-kilometre Stonecutters Bridge, which spans the entrance to Kwai Chung Container Terminals, is built next year. "Except with the permission of the Director of Marine, no vessels of a height exceeding 68.5 metres from sea level shall enter this area," said the HKG statement.
The Emma Maersk, the world's biggest containership, is 64.5 metres high and Samsung Heavy Industries is now marketing a 16,000-TEU containerships and other yards are about to offer ships of more than 15,000 TEU.
"The proposal is supported by the Port Operations Committee, the Local Vessels Advisory Committee, Modern Terminals Ltd, which operates a berth within the proposed vessel height restricted area, and the Economic Development Panel of the Legislative Council," a Transport and Housing Bureau spokesman said.
The proposed relevant legislative amendments, is made under the Shipping and Port Control (Amendment) Regulation 2008 and the Merchant Shipping (Local Vessels) (General) (Amendment) Regulation 2008.
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