Dear Anton. Thank you for your post it is important as a community we have dialogue I have to agree with your comments we do not want to be in a situation where they pick on cargo passengers. What we need is transparency Yes there will be times when we disagree over cargo with the ferry company but they should be empowered to make a decision based on the licensed cargo capacity of the ship. When I wanted to transport a large item I went to see them beforehand and got a cargo ticket in advance I gave them the dimensions of the item. Any responsible citizen should have an idea of what will fit in the licensed cargo areas. If not Hkkf should provide this guidance. I also agree the video is annoying and has limited use. However what it does show is that the company is responding to our concerns but you are correct it is annoying. As for standing up before the ferry stops I also agree it would be stupid and unrealistic to stop this. On one hand all those standing up take that risk and willingly expose themselves to it. On the other hand in an accident these passengers may get injured and restrict an emergency evacuation As always there are two sides to things. Lastly we must consider the crew they work hard everyday for us. They are professionals and should be treated as such. This means creating structures within the company where they are empowered to make reasonable judgements. At the moment it appears they are not respected or empowered by their employers.

While on the subject of safety on ferries, can anything be done about the afternoon ferries returning to YSW with schoolkids racing up and down the ferries? The principal offenders all appear to attend Bradbury School. The parents and helpers accompanying these children don't seem to care about their safety.

Do we hope they might be more careful with blocking the exits with cargo from now on? See main exit on the 10:30pm ferry Central-YSW tonight, just messaged to me by concerned passenger Robbie on the ferry.

When they arrived, one policeman was waiting at the ferry pier already, alerted by another passenger. A passenger took many pics including the staff on duty...

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Two more pictures from Nick, sent to Apple Daily today, together with these words:

Subject: "Dangerous delivery by Fire Services Department who refuse to use adjacent freight pier!

At 10.25 am today Tuesday the 14th of May 2013 the Fire Services Department unloaded an electrically powered vehicle from a freight vessel onto the Yung Shue Wan public passenger pier.

The vehicle can be seen suspended over the walkway as passengers are embarking and disembarking from the ferry. The public pedestrian pier was utilised despite the availability of the empty adjacent commercial pier (built at considerable expense some years ago) the area into which the vehicle was dropped is the main thoroughfare for passengers and during the operation there appeared to be no effort to cordon off a safety zone.

The apparent disregard for both public safety and the inconvenience caused to passengers (that could have been avoided by using the appropriate pier) is a clear breach of the Fire Services commitment to protect and ensure the safety of Hong Kong citizens. The senior officer present appeared to be a Mr Lee.

The ferry was due to leave at 10.30am."

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Yes folks you guessed it. The same captain and same boat as the Friday incident. Was the ticket staff also new that day so she got the cargo capacity wrong. Wow Hkkf have a huge staff turnover if this is the case. [/list]

______ you are a douche bag

You may think that a few bikes in front of the door isn't a big deal, but in an emergancy it could be life or death! The ferry employes just don't care. I stand in Soladarity with those who want to change the culture of not caring at HKKF.





I hope we can all find as much insperation in these sayings as I have.

1. have checked the licence today on one of the ferrites. The ferry has 22 child life jackets on board and 429 adult life jackets. I am going to investigate what a child life jackets means, i suspect it is for the 3 to 12 age group of which there are often more than 22 on board.
2. what provision is there for infants i.e. babes in arms, as i can see there are no floatation devises for the below 2 age group. On planes these are provided there is an example of a infant life jacket at

http://mespetites.blogspot.hk/2009/06/b ... -vest.html

and a child life jacket at

http://www.wakepro.co.nz/rfd-guardian-life-jacket.html

as you can see they are not the same. This website offers three sizes of child vest in addition to an infants vest.

SIZES:
Child Xtra Small - for children 6 months - 3 years, 10-15kg
Child Small - for Children 2 years - 5 years, 12-25kg
Child Medium - for children 5 - 16 years, 22-40kg

XS and Small have a crotch strap for additional protection - Child Medium do not.


I WOULD ENCOURAGE ALL PARENTS WITH INFANTS TO BUY THIER OWN INFANT LIFE JACKET. If you look at the advice on the ships video of how to enter the water you cannot do so in the recommended way while holding your infant. You can see the infant jacket holds the infant safe in the water even if they are unconscious.

3. I have received an email from Ms Yu Lai-Fan today and would like to thank her publicly for looking into the issue. Here is her response.

"Thank you for your e-mail. I also expressed great concern about the points that you mentioned in the e-mail.
I urged the HKKF to expedite the investigation and give the result to me as soon as possible.
I will let you know once I received the result or any other related information.
Thanks again for your concern to the community safety."


Please email her or drop into her office, her staff are very helpful and lovely.

4. I have been advised by the Police regarding ferries. They do not have any power to stop a ferry that is over loaded, nor do the marine police. They have suggested firstly you ask to see the captain and show him the issue. If he does not take action to your satisfaction you should tell him you will report him to the marine department. If no action is taken at this point you should take a photograph of the situation and tell the captain you are going to report him by name or vessel umber to the marine department. You may consider getting off the ferry if you feel unsafe.

The ultimate responsibility for safety is with the captain, it is his discussion and his alone to decide if the ferry sails regardless of any directives from management

5. If you are a parent please express you concerns to the Principal of your school and the PTA, they may have some influence.

6. I am still waiting for HKKF's reply to my initial enquiry and the marine department has not replied yet. I will phone them both soon.