Post by ferryfast admin on Jan 19, 2008 23:40:42 GMT -5
Court allows return of Hong Kong-Macau ferry
By Keith Wallis in Hong Kong - Friday 18 January 2008
CHU Kong Shipping will resume its Cotai WaterJet high-speed ferry services between Hong Kong and Macau after a gap of more than a month.
This follows the removal of an interim injunction by a Macau court imposed on December 10 which stopped hotel and gambling company Las Vegas Sands operating the services the following day.
The Hong Kong-listed ferry company operated the ferry link on behalf of Venetian Marketing Services, a subsidiary of Las Vegas Sands.
Services were halted about 10 days after they started in a legal row with another ferry operator, Hong Kong North West Express, which said the Macau government had granted rights to Las Vegas Sands without conducting an open tender.
Hong Kong North West Express wanted a review of the government’s decision. It had earlier hoped to start a twice-an-hour service from Macau to Hong Kong’s Tuen Mun district but these ambitions were dashed in October when its application was rejected by the Macau government.
Consequently, Macau’s intermediate court issued an interim injunction stopping services despite pleas by the government.
That injuction has now been removed, allowing Chu Kong Shipping, which was operating 10 sailings a day in each direction, to resume services.
“As we expected, the court acted in an expeditious and prudent manner to consider the merits of the claim, and decided that the injunction should be removed,” said Stephen Weaver, Las Vegas Sands’ Asia president. “We are already in the process of returning CotaiJet service to operation.”
Venetian Marketing Services ordered a fleet of 10 fast catamaran ferries from Austal, the Western Australia builder, to serve the Hong Kong-Macau route The first three vessels, painted in a striking electric blue with a fountain flowing with gold and sparkling stars, were delivered at the end of last year.
Two more are to be delivered this month followed by two more in both April and June with the final ship scheduled to join the fleet in July.
Austal confirmed to Lloyd’s List that there had been no delays to the delivery schedule caused by the legal action.
All 10 vessels, which will be flagged in Hong Kong, are 47.5 m long and can carry up to 411 passengers at speeds of up to 42 knots.
They operate between berth eight at the Macau ferry terminal on Hong Kong Island and Macau’s new $280m Pac On terminal, a three-berth temporary facility near Macau International Airport.