Christine Loh offers time frame for cleaner fuel law for ocean vessels
Cruise ships could see change next year, but power facilities at Kai Tak will take longer
It will take several years for the government to introduce onshore electricity power facilities at the Kai Tak cruise terminal but a law requiring ocean-going vessels berthing at the city to use cleaner fuel can be in place next year at the earliest.
Undersecretary for the Environment Christine Loh Kung-wai made these remarks at a forum yesterday when challenged by green activists about emission levels after the Kai Tak cruise terminal opens in June.
According to the think tank Civic Exchange, vessels visiting Ocean Terminal emitted 252 tonnes of sulphur dioxide in 2007 - comparable to the 286 tonnes of vehicle emissions in Hong Kong in 2010.
Loh said the government planned to build onshore electricity facilities for cruises berthing at the Kai Tak terminal as soon as possible, but it could take several years.
She said the government first needed to draft a proposal, which then has to be passed by the Legislative Council's environmental affairs panel and the Finance Committee. The next step would be to invite a tender. The whole process would take several years, she said.
Explaining why the government had not introduced the measure before now, Loh said: "There had been no international standard on how it should be done until around the middle of last year. Now that we know how to do it, it [the standard] will be very useful to us in the future."
Loh also said that the government planned to introduce a law next year at the earliest requiring all ocean-going vessels - not just cruises - to use fuel with a cleaner sulphur content when in the city.