SUB-COMMITTEE ON SAFETY OF
NAVIGATION
45th session
Agenda item 4
NAV 45/4/1
22 June 1999
Original; ENGLISH
AMENDMENTS TO THE COLREGs
Note by Hong Kong, China
SUMMARY
Executive summary: Hong Kong, China is of the opinion that presently there are no valid reasons for considering amendment of COLREGs.
Action to be taken: Paragraph 7
Related documents: NAV 44/4, NAV 43/3/4, NAV 43/3/12
Introduction
1 Proposals had been submitted to the forty-third and fourty-fourth sessions of the Sub-Committee for amending the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea 1972 (COLREGs). Hong Kong, China however is of the opinion that presently there are no valid reasons for carrying out this exercise. Hong Kong, China however has no objection to the proposal in paragraph 7 of NAV 44/4 for a special signal for high-speed craft (HSC).
Analysis of Collision Statistics
2 Presently a total of 128 high-speed craft (HSC) make use of Hong Kong waters to carry passengers either within the waters of Hong Kong or between Hong Kong and the ports in the Pearl River Delta, including Macau. Of these HSC, 87 are either registered or licensed in Hong Kong and the remaining are registered in other ports of the People's Republic of China. In 1998, these HSC made a total of 130,000 voyages between Hong Kong and the ports in Pearl River Delta carrying a total of 16,702 million passengers.
3 The Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) investigates accidents involving all the vessels registered or licensed in the HKSAR and all the marine accidents occurring within the waters of Hong Kong. Collisions involving the HSC between 1985 and 1998 were scrutinized to fund out the causes. A summary of the collisions is attached at Annex. It can be seen that out of the 83 collisions, 79 were due to contravention of COLREGs, two were due to control system failure and one each due to contravention of local rules and restricted area rules. Percentage of contravention of COLREGs were found to be:
