Thirteenth Meeting of the Liaison Group for the Shipping Community
18 November 2022
Members of the Liaison Group for the Shipping Community of the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) attended the annual meeting on 16 November 2022 with a total of 22 representatives from shipping companies, container terminal operators, the Hong Kong Shipowners Association, the Hong Kong Pilots Association and the Marine Department.
At the meeting, Ms. M.K. Song, Assistant Director of the HKO, presented awards to a number of Hong Kong voluntary observing ships (HKVOS) in recognition of their outstanding efforts in taking weather observations at seas in 2021. Ten ships, namely, APL Singapura, Dapeng Moon, Dapeng Star, Dapeng Sun, Maersk La Paz, Min Lu, Min Rong, Shen Hai, YM Warmth and YM Wholesome received the “Diamond Award” for having contributed 500 or more weather reports last year. Maxwell received the “Platinum Award” (400 to 499 reports contributed), whereas OOCL Chicago received the “Gold Award” (300 to 399 reports contributed). Ms. Song also presented certificates of appreciation to OOCL Australia and OOCL Busan for their assistance in deploying five drifting buoys in the western North Pacific and the South China Sea in 2021 to enhance ocean observations during the tropical cyclone season.
The shipping community was briefed at the meeting on the latest development of the services provided by the HKO. The new electronic service of Barometer Comparison Self-check enables efficient handling of the request for calibration of barometer on ships berthing at Hong Kong. The marine weather information via “MyOceanWx On Demand” service has been enhanced with the capability of scheduled dissemination. The meteorological equipment onboard HKVOS will be upgraded with enhanced automatic weather data collection at seas.
