Thank you, President. I speak in support of the Shipping Legislation (Use of Fuels and Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2024 (“the Bill”). This Bill mainly involves amendments in four areas, and today I will speak briefly on the importance of green marine fuel supply chains to the development of green port.

As we all know, the Liberal Party (“LP”) and I proposed to the Chief Executive and the SAR Government 16 months ago the development of green port in view of the fact that energy is an industry with huge potential and our country has already set the target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. We mentioned at that time that it was necessary to catch up with Singapore as it was already ahead of Hong Kong in the application of hydrogen energy and methanol fuel. We hoped that the Government would vigorously make progress in this field in view of the huge market in the future.

The specific proposal put forward by the SAR Government precisely includes the construction of bunkering facilities for methanol, a green fuel that can be used for bunkering for ocean-going vessels calling Hong Kong. In last year’s Policy Address, the Chief Executive undertook to conduct a feasibility study on this proposal and a task force was set up by the Government subsequently for preparation. The latest development is that in the latest Policy Address, in respect of the promotion of the development of new energy, the work mentioned by the Chief Executive includes “developing sustainable aviation fuel and green maritime fuel supply chains―We will formulate the long-term plan for industry development in respect of fuel supply and demand, storage and bunkering”.

LP also mentioned earlier that apart from liquefied natural gas, methanol is also gaining prominence as another green fuel for ocean-going vessels. According to some maritime research organizations (Drewry and Clarksons), more than 100 methanol-fuelled ships will be in service from 2026, and the methanol-fuelled vessel fleet will grow from 2% to 14% of the global fleet; in the next five years, the demand for methanol will increase to 4 million tonnes per year, which shows the rapid growth of the use of methanol as a green fuel for ocean-going vessels.

President, I would like to raise another point here. Container shipments from Hong Kong to Europe have become rare recently, with most departing from Yantian now. As for shipments from Hong Kong to the United States, only one vessel uses green fuel. If we do not continue our development in this direction, not only will we witness a further reduction in the number of vessels calling our port, but we will also face higher export charges as I have heard that shipping companies are planning to impose surcharges on ports that are not equipped with relevant infrastructures and fuels.

President, I do not intend to go into details. What I want to say is that as a Member of the Legislative Council (“LegCo”) for over two decades or so and a Member of the Executive Council for eight to nine years, I have never seen a policy ... As I said just now, 16 months ago, I was still having preliminary discussions with the Government and the Chief Executive, and all we did were just reviewing and considering the relevant situation. Though we acknowledged the need for action, there was no formal discussion about implementation details. It is inconceivable that I would witness for the first time in two decades or so a bill turning from one almost without any consideration―perhaps briefly by two bureaux (the Environment and Ecology Bureau and the Transport and Logistics Bureau)―to one now under actual implementation. The Government manages to table the relevant bill to LegCo within these 16 months, which is a speed I have never seen before. I hope that the SAR Government will take forward its work at such speed in the future, both in terms of policymaking and legislation.

Of course, I would like to thank my fellow party member, Mr Frankie YICK, who got all stakeholders in the shipping industry together shortly after the delivery of last year’s Policy Address. Of course, I am also very grateful to the two Policy Bureaux for engaging their staff in the discussion of our current legislative exercise and the liaison with the stakeholders. This exemplifies the coordination between the executive authorities and the legislature, and I am pleased to see that the Bill can be submitted to LegCo for Second Reading and Third Reading in such a short time frame.

President, we in LP support the Bill.