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.
