This Wall Street Journal article presented some interesting challenges facing large shipping companies coming in an out of Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor. This port has long been polluted by ships burning crude oil as fuel. The government passed a "Fair-Winds Charter" which encouraged cleaner fuel usage, however this act is expiring at the end of the year. The Hong Kong government has given an offer to reduce port dues for shipping companies that switch to low-sulfur fuel at berth. However, the article states that the government subsidy "would only offset about 40% of the costs involved in using the cleaner fuel." Some wonder if this is enough incentive to entice companies whose profits have tanked in the past year, some by as much as 90%.
I found this to be an interesting article because of the challenging situation the Hong Kong government and these shipping companies are in. Cleaning up the water in the harbor is an important task, especially when there are health risks due to the polluted water. However, I wonder how the shipping companies will combat the high cost of switching to cleaner fuel, considering the small incentive the government is providing.
Katie Robinson
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2012/03/26/clean-up-effort-for-hong-kong-port-hits-rocks/
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