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OpinionLosing Hong Kong’s Star Ferry would leave a gaping hole in the city’s smile. Someone must save it

The struggling iconic ferry service that has traversed Victoria Harbour since the 1880s is an integral part of Hong Kong’s history and culture

There must be an entrepreneurial individual somewhere who can recognise its value and see its potential

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Hong Kong’s Star Ferry is struggling to cover salaries and pay off loans after logging HK$70 million in losses over the past two years. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 11:15am, 13 May 2022Updated: 12:07pm, 18 May 2022

When I returned to Hong Kong recently after a month away, I was braced for news of yet more friends leaving, but what I didn’t expect was to find myself mourning the impending loss of something so integral to this city that it’s almost its soul – the Star Ferry.

The news hit me hard. Straight out of quarantine, I took a trip across the harbour and soaked up the simple ritual of the crossing. The whirr of the fans in the waiting area, the sound of the boarding bell, the gang plank that rolls with the swell of the sea and the beautifully weathered teak deck.

It’s about so much more than getting from A to B, it’s an integral part of Hong Kong’s history and culture.

When Hong Kong Tramways struggled to draw passengers and remain profitable, French conglomerate Veolia stepped in with a HK$200 million (US$25 million) renovation plan in 2009 that rescued the more than 100-year-old service. Ding, ding! How about another Veolia for the Star Ferry?

A Star Ferry crosses Victoria Harbour on May 4, 2022. Photo: AFP

Even older than the trams, the Star Ferry traces its origins to 1888, when a Parsee cook began a ferry service across the harbour with his steamboat, the Morning Star. By 1890, the Kowloon Ferry boasted four single-deck ferries. Businessman Sir Catchick Paul Chater bought all the boats and, in 1898, the Star Ferry Company, as it is known today, became a public company.