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11th Meeting of the Liaison Group for the Shipping Community

10 December 2020

Owing to the COVID-19 epidemic, the 11th annual meeting of the Hong Kong Observatory Liaison Group for the Shipping Community was held on 4 December 2020 via video conferencing, the first time ever since its first meeting held in 2010. A total of 16 representatives from the shipping companies, container terminal operators, the Hong Kong Shipowners Association and the Marine Department attended the meeting.

Before the start of the meeting, Dr. Cheng Cho-ming, Director of the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) hosted an online presentation of awards to the outstanding Hong Kong Voluntary Observing Ships (HKVOS) in recognition of their efforts in taking weather observations at seas in 2019. A total of nine ships, namely, Dapeng Moon, Dapeng Star, Dapeng Sun, Min Lu, Min Rong, OOCL Canada, Shen Hai, SuperStar Aquarius and YM Warmth received the "Diamond Award" for having contributed 500 or more weather reports in 2019. Maersk La Paz, OOCL Charleston and OOCL Tokyo received the "Platinum Award" (400+ reports contributed), whereas APL Singapura, Maxwell, OOCL Australia, OOCL Beijing, OOCL Chongqing, OOCL Memphis, Silvermine, Star Pisces, YM Wholesome and Yutai Breeze received the "Gold Award" (300+ reports contributed). Dr. Cheng also presented certificates of appreciation to OOCL Busan and OOCL Jakarta for their assistance in deploying five drifting buoys in the western North Pacific and the South China Sea in 2019 to enhance ocean observation during the typhoon season.

During the meeting, the shipping community was briefed of the latest developments of the services provided by HKO. Although routine ship visits by HKO’s Port Meteorological Officer (PMO) have been temporarily suspended due to COVID-19, the Observatory continues to provide barometer comparison check service for ships berthing at Hong Kong via email to facilitate calibration of the equipment. The Observatory will continue to upgrade the meteorological equipment onboard HKVOS by delivering the equipment to the ships directly via the ship management companies.

The Liaison Group Meeting for the Shipping Community was first conducted via video conferencing
The Liaison Group Meeting for the Shipping Community was first conducted via video conferencing
The Liaison Group Meeting for the Shipping Community was first conducted via video conferencing