The Mainland-Hong Kong Maritime Traffic Safety Regular Meeting（the Mainland-Hong Kong-Macao Maritime Traffic Safety Regular Meeting）was held on November 25,2020 by video conference. Cao Desheng, Director General, China Maritime Safety Administration （MSA）, Agnes Wong, Director of Marine,the Marine Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region （SAR）and Huang Suiwen, Director General, Marine and Water Bureau, Macao SAR attended the meeting.
The meeting aims to implement the "Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Maritime Cooperation Agreement" signed by the maritime authorities of the three places in August 2020, support the construction of the Greater Bay Area’s integrated transportation system, and strengthen the close cooperation between the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macau in the field of maritime management, and promote more smooth, safe and efficient marine transportation in the region.
The meeting proposed that the maritime authorities of the three places should strive to build a more convenient and efficient management mechanism for the arrivals& departures of ships sailing in the Greater Bay Area, cancel the maritime inspection procedures for entry and exit ports for applicable ships, and replace them with a port entry and exit reporting system; study and introduce applicable ships convenience measures for entering and exiting non-open ports; strengthening mutual assistance in law enforcement between maritime administrative agencies, promoting the sharing of law enforcement information; coordinating ship piloting in the Dapeng Bay waters to reduce shipowners’ operating costs, and promoting the coordination of technical standards and regulations for maritime management in the Greater Bay Area mutual recognition and the implementation of "e-navigation"; further relaxing the certification requirements for yacht operators overseas, especially in Hong Kong and Macau, and promoting the "free flow of yachts" in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau and Hainan-Hong Kong-Macau. Through the close cooperation and coordination of the maritime authorities of the three places, the unification of maritime safety technical standards will be achieved, and the safety and efficiency of water traffic in the Greater Bay Area will be improved, and the high-quality development of shipping will be promoted.
The meeting made it clear that the maritime authorities of the three places will further coordinate the air pollution control of ships in the Greater Bay Area, the revision of the "Pearl River Estuary Regional Maritime Oil Spill Response Plan", the application scope of high-speed passenger ship inspection regulations, ship technical regulations, and mobile fishing vessel inspection matters, and agreed to jointly hold the "Greater Bay Area Maritime Festival" and the "Greater Bay Area Youth Maritime Summer Camp" in 2021 to widely promote maritime culture.
The meeting also exchanged cooperation issues in the fields of ship safety inspection, maritime labor convention implementation, international search and rescue satellite systems, shipping innovation and technology, and maritime investigations.
Chen Biwu, Director General of Guangdong MSA, and Qu Yijiang, Deputy Director General of Shenzhen MSA attended the meeting.