Yiu Lian to site dockyard off Lantau
YIU Lian Dockyards' fourth floating dock, which is now anchored off Lamma Island, will probably be situated between its current two floating docks, No 2 and No 3, off Lantau Island, says a Marine Department source.
He said the shipbuilder, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of China Merchants Holdings, could have given the department more advance notice instead of ''telling us only when the dockyard had arrived on the doorstep''.
''The Marine Department has already written to the dockyard replying to its request for a site,'' the source said, adding that the department could not give another site which had been earmarked for Hongkong United Dockyards (HUD) to Yiu Lian.
HUD plans to bring in another floating dock to meet the rising demand for repairs of vessels and dredgers in the region.
Yiu Lian deputy general manager Yang Shi-lan earlier said the company had made a formal request for a site from the Marine Department in the middle of last year.
The company planned to put the fourth floating dockyard to work after Chinese New Year.
Yiu Lian's No 1 floating dock has a 12,000-tonne lifting capacity, No 2 dock a 12,500-tonne lifting capacity, and No 3 dock a 36,000-tonne capacity.
Its fourth 1985-built floating dockyard, which has an overall length of 155 metres, has a 8,500 lifting capacity.
Mr Yang said that because Hongkong was short of floating docks and slipways, the addition of this floating dock to its fold would enable the company to meet the growing demand for repairs from small and medium-sized vessels and dredgers doing reclamationwork in the territory.
