Che Min Po: Hong Kong's green ship fuel refueling has moved towards normalization and will focus on green methanol development.

On March 5th, the world's first methanol dual-fuel powered roll-on/roll-off ship, the "Harmony of the Port," completed its first green methanol refueling operation in the port. Stella Fong, Director of Transport and Logistics of Hong Kong, pointed out in her speech at the refueling ceremony that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government launched the "Green Ship Fuel Refilling Action Plan" in November 2024 to establish a complete green fuel supply chain and ecosystem, which has received great support and response from the industry. Today, Hong Kong has joined the ranks of world shipping centers with regular operations and refueling of liquefied natural gas and biodiesel, no longer in the trial or planning stages, but has moved towards normalization. Last year, Hong Kong conducted 16 LNG refueling operations and 110 biodiesel refueling operations, with a total of over 220,000 tons of green ship fuel refilled. Stella Fong stated that promoting the development of green fuels in the international shipping industry is a major trend, and promoting the development of green and low-carbon shipping is also a strategic deployment of national development. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government is actively planning and positioning to enhance its competitiveness as an international shipping center, especially towards green intelligent and intelligent development. She further stated that in the future, Hong Kong will focus on green methanol, providing a full-chain refueling and trading environment for global shipping companies, hoping to provide the best choice for various stakeholders in the international shipping industry. Stella Fong also mentioned that Hong Kong is the seventh largest ship fuel refueling center in the world, the second largest in the country, and the first in the Greater Bay Area. Hong Kong will definitely uphold its inherent advantages and further consolidate and maintain its leading position among various green fuels. The mainland will be the largest producer of green ship fuels in the world, and companies can transport fuels to Hong Kong through different supply chains, and different new power refueling vessels can also serve Hong Kong. As a platform that combines different companies and supplies, Hong Kong is developing into a green fuel refueling and trading center, which embodies the unique advantages of Hong Kong's backing of the motherland and connecting the world. The recently announced "Budget" mentioned the concept of financial linkage with the shipping industry. It is understood that building new ships or retrofitting ships to use green fuels in the international shipping industry requires a large amount of capital. Stella Fong specifically introduced the concept to the "national team" members and international shipping companies, suggesting considering Hong Kong as the preferred financing location. In the future, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government will work together with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and various financial partners to explore how to better leverage the advantages of the international shipping and international financial "dual centers" in this area. She announced that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government will propose important legislative amendments within this year to provide half-tax tax incentives for commodity traders, hoping to seize this opportunity to attract more international shipping commodity traders to settle in Hong Kong. Combining Hong Kong's development in green intelligence and intelligence, injecting new thinking and new energy into the development of the "dual centers" advantage.