President, “benefiting people’s livelihood and the economy” is the foundation of governance. As Hong Kong enters a period of advancement from stability to prosperity, Chief Executive John LEE has delivered the third Policy Address of his term of office. The Liberal Party not only supports its contents, but is also delighted to see that many of the proposals therein are exactly what we have been advocating over the years and have been responded to by the Government. 

A long time ago, the Liberal Party already took the lead in proposing to the SAR Government that we should develop Hong Kong into a green port. At that time, we mentioned that Singapore was already ahead of Hong Kong in the use of hydrogen energy and methanol fuel, so Hong Kong needed to catch up quickly; and we hoped that the Government would make vigorous development and promotion efforts in view of the huge market in the future. 

In last year’s Policy Address, the Chief Executive promised to conduct a feasibility study on the proposal, and the Government subsequently set up a task force to undertake preparatory work. In his latest Policy Address, the Chief Executive has further mentioned that the work to promote the development of new energy will include “developing SAF (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”. 

As the Liberal Party has already pointed out earlier, methanol fuel is beginning to emerge as another green fuel for ocean-going vessels, alongside liquefied natural gas. According to the data of some maritime research institutes (e.g. 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; and the demand for methanol will increase to 4 million t per year in the next five years. These show that the demand for the use of methanol as a green fuel for ocean-going vessels is growing rapidly.

Earlier, the Legislative Council (“LegCo”) passed on the Third Reading the Shipping Legislation (Use of Fuels and Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2024, which mainly aims to promote our development into a green port with the complement of green maritime fuel supply chains. I remember that this new ordinance was created from scratch in just 16 months. Looking back, the Chief Executive was very supportive when I put the proposal to him at the time. Subsequently, my fellow party member Mr Frankie YICK gathered the views of the industry and made further proposals to the Government. The Government then drafted the new ordinance, which was finally enacted with lightning speed. Such efficiency is unprecedented in the several decades I have been involved in politics, including in LegCo and the Executive Council. 

Facts have proved that it is our responsibility as LegCo Members to spare no effort in lobbying and facilitating what is beneficial to people’s livelihood and the economy, while a responsible government should put words into action. On this note, another related issue is the future development of container terminals in Hong Kong. Although it has been some time since the return to normalcy after the epidemic, cargo loading and unloading operations are still almost exclusively carried out at the Shenzhen Yantian Port, and there is only one vessel that sails to the United States via Hong Kong, while all European-bound cargo ships have switched to sailing via the Yantian Port. The Liberal Party has repeatedly told the Chief Executive that for the sake of the sustainable development of Hong Kong’s container terminals, efforts should be made to strive for the return of cargo ships to Hong Kong for loading and unloading of cargos, and that foreign cargo ships that still do not use green energy should be required to pay a surcharge during their voyage. It can be seen that there is still a step to be taken by the Government in developing the maritime green energy economy.

President, I so submit.