Hong Kong has a long history as a seaport. Located on one of the great trading routes of the world and being the main gateway to Southern China, the port of Hong Kong is a major marine transportation hub in the region.

China is the fastest growing economy in the world while the Pearl River Delta, which includes Hong Kong, is one of the most dynamic economic growth regions in China.

Over the years, Hong Kong has been taking full advantage of our favourable location, our deep-water harbour and first-class infrastructure to serve the needs of our global trade.

This has made us for nearly a decade the world's busiest container port  - and indeed, we continued to be so last year by attaining a throughput of 20 million TEUs.

But of course our port is more than just a container port. We handled 60 million tonnes of non-container cargo. In shipping, over 35,000 ocean vessels and 182,000 river vessels, and 16.7 million passengers visited our port last year.

That Hong Kong has evolved from a small fishing port for vessels to anchor and take on their provisions while en route to Mainland China and other ports in northern Asia some 160 years ago to what it is today is not coincidental. It is due to the hard work and the entrepreneurial spirit of the Hong Kong people who have provided the drive and enterprise to develop Hong Kong as a major trading centre.

Today, as in the past, the Hong Kong  Government is committed to providing a favourable business environment and world-class infrastructure to facilitate our continued development as an international seaport.

Through years of close cooperation between the private sector and the Government, we have made Hong Kong a major hub port and will continue to build on our proven strengths in the years ahead.

World trade underpins world peace

It is often said that world peace is underpinned by world trade and world trade is supported by world ports. Like many of the areas that you come from, the port industry is an important driver and a key contributor to Hong Kong's economy.

With the continuous growth in global trade, the Hong Kong Government is committed to providing an effective and responsive service to ensure that every ship that comes to our port can navigate safely in our waters and carry out business efficiently.

We strongly believe that an effective vessel traffic service is important to both the safety and efficiency of the port operations.

Advanced monitoring system ensures harbour safety

Here in Hong Kong, our Vessel Traffic Services Centre was established in 1989. This centre, located on the top floor of the Macau Ferry Terminal in the central harbour, is equipped with an advanced, computerised vessel traffic monitoring system made up of nine radars covering all our major shipping areas and the approaches, together with a fully integrated radio and communication system.

Unlike the old port communication centre, which was only provided with VHF radio and a hand-held telescope for the watch-keepers to check a vessel's movement at certain times and within line of sight, the VTS system enables us to provide a continuous and proactive traffic-management service to vessels visiting our port.

The system is enhanced from time to time to cope with the increasing port traffic and international developments. More recently we have just completed a major upgrade of our VTS system to add more advanced capabilities and state-of-the-art technology.

Mariners' port expectations climb

Mariners, as they sail around the world these days, are expecting more comprehensive and better services on which they can rely to navigate safely and confidently into ports. We will not disappoint them and will take every step to improve the effectiveness of our service and the competence of our operators.

A lot of work has also been done in these areas by the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation & Lighthouse Authorities, and the industry as well. And much has been achieved over recent years through international cooperation and sharing of experience in forums.

International forums allows industry to share experiences

Indeed, the international symposiums on VTS provide a good opportunity for port managers, VTS operators and the industry to exchange ideas and work together for a better service to meet the needs of mariners.

By sharing experiences, we will have better mutual understanding among ourselves in the further development of our services and, more importantly, identify a common ground in charting our way to providing a better VTS to the mariners in achieving the common goal of improving the safety of navigation worldwide.

Secretary for Economic Development & Labour Stephen Ip gave this address at the 10th International Symposium on Vessel Traffic Services.