>Press Releases Home > Publications and press releases > Press Releases MD's effort to crack down on overloading, speeding and forged certificates The Marine Department's Harbour Patrol Section (HPS) has taken rigorous action to crack down on vessels committing offences such as overloading, speeding and trading with forged documents. HPS conducted about 18,000 vessel inspections in Hong Kong waters and instituted over 1,500 prosecutions against offenders last year. It prosecuted 80 overloading cases last year, including some 50 Mainland cargo vessels (MCVs), compared with 29 cases in total in 2000. Repeated operations against speeding vessels resulted in a decline of such cases to 36 in 2001, compared with 45 in 2000. Crackdown on vessels trading with forged documents resulted in the detention of 10 MCVs. Four were handed over to the Guangdong Maritime Safety Administration and the HKSAR Government confiscated six, which were abandoned by their crew. HPS also prosecuted some 20 MCV masters who were illegally engaged in shuttling cargo in local waters, breaching conditions of their entry permits and causing disturbance to the daily operations of local-licensed vessels. HPS also co-organised 4 local seminars, and sent speakers to two seminars in the Mainland to promote navigation safety in Hong Kong waters. Through administrative arrangements, a pre-arrival notification (PAN) measure was implemented on all non-convention and non-local vessels since mid-2001, attracting a 90% voluntary compliance rate. The majority of vessels in this category are MCVs. The scheme is expected to become part of the Merchant Shipping (Local Vessel)(General) Regulation and the Shipping and Port Control Regulations later in the year. More details and other stories are available in the eighth issue of Hong Kong Maritime News which is accessible through Marine Department's website of http://www.gov.hk/mardep. Friday, March 29, 2002
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