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Free ferry services for sea burials and an online cemetery will be launched early next year, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department says. 
From the end of next month, the free boat services will take people from Sai Wan Ho public pier to the east of Tung Lung Chau  every Saturday morning to scatter  ashes of loved ones in the sea.
'We want to offer an alternative choice,' department director Cheuk Wing-hing  said. 'We have the mechanism for people to scatter ashes on the sea but the usage rate is not high. This is because people don't know where to rent a boat to do it.' The department approved 160 sea ashes scattering applications from July to December 2007, 243 last year and more than 267  this year. 
About 90 per cent of these sea burials were done near Tung Lung Chau. The waters near Tap Mun and West Lamma Channel are the  other designated locations for sea burials. 
Cheuk said the government had  chosen a  boat service contractor for a year, at a cost of less than HK$200,000. 
Departing at 10am every Saturday, the boat will take about  45 minutes to reach its destination, then wait between  30 minutes to an hour for the burial party to perform   any required rituals before their ashes are spread on the water.
The ferry can take up to 10 families, limited to eight people.  The service can be booked for the next three months  at the department's  offices at Happy Valley and  Hung Hom on a first-come, first-served basis. 
Depending on demand, Cheuk said more free  services could be offered. 
In the second quarter of next year, the department also planned to  launch  a website to pay tribute to the deceased, Cheuk said. 
Each account will be allocated 10 megabytes of space for offerings ranged from songs  to virtual fruits. 
He said the service, was not a substitute for  columbarium and cemetery facilities, but would allow people to pay a tribute to deceased family or friends even when not in Hong Kong.



Online cemetery and a burial ferry planned