Pressure to complete major reclamation projects on time has prompted more overloading of sand barges from the mainland, posing a danger to other shipping, Marine Police said yesterday.
Prosecutions against vessels for overloading rose to 80 last year, compared with 29 cases in 2000.
Fifty of those involved mainland vessels, of which 42 were sand barges employed by local contractors of major reclamation works, such as Container Terminal 9.
Marine officials said the overloading trend was continuing to rise, with 38 new cases recorded under more vigorous enforcement in the past six weeks.
They warned marine traffic safety would be compromised as at least two overloaded barges had sunk in Hong Kong waters last year.
'The overloading problem is alarming and dangerous as we have lots of sea projects going on now. Some of these barges were loading 100 tonnes more than their designed capacity,' Marine Director Tsui Shung-yiu said.