Figure 3.1 Distribution of CWD sightings in Hong Kong waters during AFCD monitoring surveys (Apr 2022 - Mar 2023) [Extracted from the “Monitoring of Marine Mammals in Hong Kong Waters (1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023), Final Report” prepared by the Hong Kong Cetacean Research Project.

Background

1.1 Project Information

Build King Samsung Joint Venture (BKSJV) awarded the Contract No. NL/2017/03 Tung Chung New Town Extension – Reclamation and Advance Works (TCNTE reclamation). The work comprises of reclamation of about 129ha of land including the construction of associated seawall and eco-shoreline and drainage box culverts/ channel for the development of TCNTE at Tung Chung East and Road P1.

The Government has planned to further develop the Tung Chung New Town Extension (TCNTE) into a comprehensively planned new town with a larger population capacity and adequate local and regional community facilities. The contract NL/2020/03 Tung Chung New Town Extension – Major Infrastructure Works in Tung Chung East Works Vessel Travel Route Plan, is one of the Contracts under the development of Tung Chung New Town Extension (NL/2020/03). This Contract includes the construction of infrastructure on a newly reclaimed land and includes the following works:

i. Construction of engineering infrastructure including drainage works, sewerage works (including two sewage pumping stations), waterworks, roadworks (including carriageways, footpaths, cycle tracks and junction improvements), common utility tunnels and landscaping works; and

ii. Construction of associated environmental mitigation works including noise barriers and low-noise road surfacing.

1.2 Purpose of the Works Vessel Travel Route Plan

In accordance to EP-519/2016 Condition 2.13, this Works Vessel Travel Route Plan (WVTRP) shall be submitted to detail the planning, implementation, safety measures and monitoring of operational routings of the construction works vessels. The designated barging point located within the marina in Tung Chung will be used to transport construction & demolition (C&D) materials generated from the project via marine routes to the West Lagoon area or any other assigned destination as stated within the Plan. The key update for this version of Works Vessel Travel Route Plan is the transportation arrangement to the West Lagoon area after the completion of reclamation. Accordance with condition 2.5 of the EP, Qualified Ecologists had been appointed to form part of the ET and carry out work relating to ecological aspects. The Qualified Ecologists had been consulted in preparation of this Plan.

2.0 Design of Works Vessel Travel Route Plan

2.1 Identification of Construction Works

Type of works vessels involved would be limited to listed in the previously approved version of the Works Vessel Travel Route Plan under this Environmental Permit attached in. The particulars of works vessels is attached in Appendix A.

Layout Plan showing Tung Chung East Reclamation Site, Southern Viaduct of Tuen Mun-Chek Lap Kok (TMCLK) Link, Tung Chung Buoyed Channel and Brothers Marine Park is shown in Appendix B.

Working

Vessels

Types of

Works

Derrick lighter

Flat top barge

Tug Boat

Self Propelled Pelican barge

Hopper

Jack up barge

Crane Barge

Self Propelled Cargo Barge

DCM Barge

Cement Barge

Grab Dredger

PVD barge

Anchor Boat

Installation of silt curtain and geotextile

Laying of sand blanket

Installation of PVD

GI works

Construction of marina

Reclamation

Construction of seawall

Removal of existing seawall

Installation of temporary seawall, cofferdam, and jetty, Seawall no. 1 and Interim Drainage Channel

Deep Cement Mixing

Table 2.1 previously approved version of the Works Vessel Travel Route Plan

According to the scope of Contract, the following works shall engage various type of works vessels in the construction of NL/2020/03.

Working

Vessels

Types of

Works

Derrick lighter

Flat top barge

Tug Boat

Installation, regular deployment and positioning of silt curtain and geotextile

Construction & demolition material transportation

Table 2.2 type of works vessels in the construction of NL/2020/03

In additional to the above, general work such as refuse collection, inspection work and transportation of workers and etc. will consist of sampans and passengers boat.

The sampans and passengers boat are used for passenger transportation or inspection only and will only operate with a speed limit of 8 knots at near- coast area (Figure 2.1), except in Tung Chung buoyed channel. As such they are not considered as works vessels and will not be counted in the limit of a maximum of 56 and 10 round trips on a daily and hourly basis respectively.

Figure 2.1 Indicative route of sampans and passengers boat and the near-coast area

2.2 Categories of Works Vessel Travelling

2.2.1 Works Vessels in the area enclosed by silt curtain

The potential impact to Chinese White Dolphin of these working vessels shall be low as they shall mainly works within the reclamation site and the moving and position will be carried out in slow speed (< 8 knots).

2.2.2 Works Vessels travel outside the silt curtain and delivery of material to site

The moving of works vessel to and from site area in between the Southern Viaduct of Tuen Mun-Chek Lap Kok Link shall leave the site boundary and navigate in the Tung Chung Buoyed Channel. Vessels travelling outside the silt curtain include Derrick Lighter, Flat Top Barge, Tug Boat, Pelican Barge, Hopper, Cargo Barge and Cement Barge.

In delivery of material such as sand fill, sorted public fill and precast unit from the proposed sources/ factory and stockpile area at WA3 and WA4, the works vessels shall navigate along the existing fairway and Tung Chung Buoyed Channel to the site area. Vessels delivering materials to site include Derrick Lighter, Flat Top Barge, Tug Boat, Pelican Barge, Hopper, Cargo Barge and Cement Barge.

The potential impact of cumulative marine traffic disturbance or collision risk on dolphin due to large sized and slowly moving working vessels with relatively low traffic flow during towing are anticipated to be low. Nevertheless, speed limits and regular travel routes will be implemented to control and minimize marine traffic disturbance on dolphins. The supervising staff of the Contractor will record and control the trips to ensure not exceeding the daily and hourly trip basis. Moreover, good planning of construction vessel activities, minimize stationary/idle work vessels, reduction of waste materials will be implemented to minimize trips of the construction works vessels to and from the works site. Work vessels shall be scheduled tentatively at maximum 4 round trips for transportation of construction & demolition material at barging point on a daily basis. This is well within the maximum number of daily and hourly trips of the EP condition. The supervising staff of the Contractor will record and control the trips are well within the limit, in accordance to the EP Condition 2.13 of the environmental permit EP-519/2016, which specifies not exceeding 56 and 10 round trips on a daily and hourly basis respectively.

2.3 Design Criteria of Works Vessel Travel Route Plan

The design criteria of this Works Vessel Travel Route Plan are summarized as follows:

2.3.1 The Brothers Marine Park (BMP)

The Tung Chung Buoyed Channel falls into the Brothers Marine Park (BMP). Taking into consideration the restriction of BMP, the arrival and departure route will enter the site via the navigation corridor either between the Boundary Crossing Facility and west boundary of BMP.

The speed limit of the work vessels is 8 knots within the BMP, no stopover or anchoring is allowed.

2.3.2 Sha Chau and Lung Kwu Chau Marine Park (SCLKCMP)

Work vessels shall avoid entering the Sha Chau and Lung Kwu Chau Marine Park (SCLKCMP). Existing fairways such as Urmston Road Channel and water between the 3RS projects of Hong Kong International Airport and the SCLKCMP, shall be selected as the main travel routes for delivery of construction & demolition material to site.

The traffic route is attached in Appendix C. Due to the heavy marine traffic flow within this region, working vessels are required to draw extra attention and safety awareness while passing through this region. The marine travel routes will also be locally adjusted in order to minimize the potential risk of marine traffic incident.

2.3.3 North Lantau Marine Park (NLMP)

The North Lantau Marine Park (NLMP) was designated with effect on 1 November 2024. The speed limit of the work vessels is 8 knots within the NLMP, no stopover or anchoring is allowed.

2.3.4 Practice of Navigation Safety

The licensed captain will be the only authorized person to control the working vessels under safe marine operation. The captain will strictly follow all navigation safety requirements and international practices with aids from navigation instrument and the support from marine traffic control team of Marine Department.

Markers buoys and navigation buoys will be adopted for marine based indicators to demarcate proper navigation channel. These aids will assist the captain to determine the proper travel routes under actual situation and any unexpected incidents.

In addition, since fleet navigation will also be affected by natural constraints such as wind, current, wave, etc., as well as other marine operators such as speed boats, turbo jets, container vessels and river trade vessels, the marine travel route of contract related working vessels will be adjusted locally to avoid any incident and to ensure safe navigation.

2.3.5 Restricted Area and Height Restriction of Hong Kong International Airport

According to the Airport Height Restriction and Airport Restricted Area as shown in Appendix D, there are seven restricted areas in the vicinity of Hong Kong International Airport where working vessels are not allowed to pass through without authorization. Moreover, the airport height restriction limit will govern the marine travel route of working vessels for the delivery of reclamation material to the site.

2.3.6 Height restriction of Southern Viaduct of Tuen Mun-Chek Lap Kok Link (TMCLKL)

According to Shipping and Port Control Regulation (Cap. 313A) and the Merchant Shipping (Local Vessels) (General) Regulation (Cap. 548F) for vessels passing through the Tung Chung Buoyed Channel under the Tuen Mun-Chek Lap Kok Link, no vessel higher than the limit as shown in the Appendix D could access the control area.

For reclamation work for P1 road under the TMCLKL, permission from Marine Department shall be obtain for vessels air draft is higher than 6m.

2.3.7 Reduction of Sediment Plume at Shallow Water Area

The contractor shall schedule, according to the predicted tides of Hong Kong Observatory, all their self-propelled pelican barges to travel into the work site at suitable speed in order to reduce sediment plume at shallow water areas. Figure 2.2 show the water depth within the site and around Lantau Island.

Figure 2.2 Water Delph within the site and around Lantau Island

2.3.8 Temporary Mooring Area at WA4 and Holding Area at WA3

Temporary mooring area is proposed at WA4 (Appendix E) to provide intermediate waiting space if traffic within the reclamation site is found to be congested (“congested” mean the waiting time for entering the Site is longer than 1 hour).

Before vessels entering the reclamation site, holding area at WA3 (Appendix E) is selected and it is located closer to the works site considers waterspace to the west of Tai Mo To outside the Brothers Marine Park avoiding the high spot.

2.3.9 The Hotspots of Chinese White Dolphins

The Contractor will consider the hotspots of the Chinese White Dolphins near Sha Chau and Lung Kwu Chau Marine Park, along the Urmston Road as one of the design criteria of the Regular Marine Travel Routes. The latest Chinese White Dolphin distribution and abundance would be reviewed with reference to the latest Monitoring of Marine Mammals in Hong Kong Waters (1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023) issued by AFCD. All works vessels will avoid travelling within the hotspots of the Chinese White Dolphin near Sha Chau and Lung Kwu Chau Marine Park along the Urmston Road under normal operation.

2.4 Selected Works Vessel Travel Routes

The marine travel routes for CEDD Contract No. NL/2017/03 delivery of sandfill, rockfill, sorted public fill, precast unit, cement and materials for DCM and NL/2020/03 exportation of construction & demolition materials are attached in Appendix C.

2.5 Special Circumstances

If there is any situation or inclement weather including local strong wind current and head-on large vessel affecting the marine safety and the vessels navigation is deviated from the selected regular marine travel route, the captain of the work vessels shall notify the Site Superintendent and the Environmental Officer shall report the incident to the Project Manager, ET and IEC.

All works vessels shall be equipped with Global Positional System (GPS) or equivalent Automatic Identification System (AIS) for real time tracking and monitoring of their travel routing, speed and anchorage points. The system shall be capable to record and analysis the travel routing, speed and anchorage points.

After the incident, the operator of the work vessels shall provide further information and valid reasons for the deviations. Data from the GPS or AIS will be checked and reviewed. Flow chart concerning the “Incident of Vessel Navigation is Deviated from the Selected Regular Marine Travel Route” will be followed (Figure 2.3). The deviation cases shall be reviewed by ET and checked by IEC. Where necessary, preventive measure shall be followed up and implemented by the concerned operators for improvement.

Figure 2.3 Flow chart of “Incident of Vessel Navigation is Deviated from the Selected Regular Marine Travel Route”

3.0 Implementation and Monitoring

3.1 Supervision Staff

The Site Agent will be the ultimate person for minimizing ecological impacts including dolphin monitoring and marine traffic control. The supervising staff including Environmental Officer, Construction Manager, Site Superintendent and the representative of subcontractors and specialists will assist the Site Agent onsite to implement all precautionary and mitigation measures.

3.2 Method of Implementation and Monitoring

Onsite works include all construction activities such as seawall construction and reclamation within the site area. For NL/2020/03, on-site marine work is limited to operating the exportation of construction & demolition materials. As the working vessels are mainly stationed within the site boundary and occasionally will be relocated, solely, to suit the work progress, the potential impacts to Chinese White Dolphin will be low.

Offsite works mainly comprise the delivery of materials such as sandfill from Pearl River Estuary and public fill from fill banks in Hong Kong.

In accordance to the EP Condition 2.13 of the environmental permit EP-519/2016, all works vessels shall be equipped with Global Positional System (GPS) or equivalent Automatic Identification System (AIS) for real time tracking and monitoring of their travel routing, speed and anchorage points. The system shall be capable to record and analyse the travel routing, speed and anchorage points. The supervising staff of the Contractor will monitor the real time tracking data and issue immediate alert / rectification order to the vessel operators when any deviation from the Works Vessel Travel Route Plan is detected.

The record of speed, anchoring point and marine travel route of offsite working vessels will be collected and filed by the supervising staff for inspection and monitoring purposes. Graphical plots of all the vessel tracks overlaid on HK base map will be provided at monthly interval to ET and IEC to demonstrate the conformance of the vessel to the proposed route. If any vessel track log showed the approved marine travel route and speed limit is not followed, formal warning will be issued to the captain and his shipping company or material supplier. For repeated violations, The Contractor will interview the captain and his shipping company or material supplier. The Contractor preserve the right for the suspension of works.

3.3 Precautionary Measures

3.3.1 Consideration of Operation Procedure

The major ecological risk of marine vessel is a moving vessel striking and injuring Chinese White Dolphin (CWD) during travel and navigation. Information regarding the locations of frequent sighting of marine mammals near the proposed vessel routes indicated that the following would also be required to minimize the chance of a vessel striking marine mammals. The Contractor will consider the hotspots of the Chinese White Dolphins near Sha Chau and Lung Kwu Chau Marine Park, along the Urmston Road as one of the design criteria of the Regular Marine Travel Routes. The latest Chinese White Dolphin distribution and abundance would be reviewed with reference to the latest Monitoring of Marine Mammals in Hong Kong Waters (1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023) issued by AFCD. The current distribution of CWD sightings in Hong Kong waters is shown in Figure 3.1.

Once approaching or leaving the entrance of the silt curtain, all vessels will travel at a speed no greater than 8 knots between the site and boundary of the Brothers Marine Park (BMP). The vessels can then navigate at normal speed (8-12 knots) after that distance unless other restrictions are imposed. If any dolphins are sighted within 250m of a vessel then the vessel will slow down to a speed no greater than 5 knots for at least 3 minutes after the last sighting.

Under special circumstance as stated in Section 2.5 when works vessels, sampans or passengers boat travel within BMP, the requirements of (1) speed limit of 8 knots for construction work vessels within the BMP and (2) no stopover or anchoring within BMP shall be followed in accordance with EP Condition 2.13 (iv) and (v).

3.3.2 Training

The training material will be designed and prepared by the dolphin specialist and be updated time to time during the course of TCNTE reclamation.

The dolphin specialist is responsible to provide training to the trainers of main contractor (Train the Trainer Scheme). The training will be given by the dolphin specialist or training personnel approved by ET or IEC.

All captains, construction vessels’ personnel and the supervising staff should undergo training to learn about local dolphins and porpoises. They should be trained to be aware of the protocol for dolphin friendly‟ vessel operation (refer to the Code of Conduct for Dolphin Watching Activities from AFCD).

Training on the requirements of the Works Vessel Travel Route Plan would be provided for all captains, construction vessels’ personnel and the supervising staff to follow, which should include the details of the normal operational routings of the construction works vessels and reporting of deviations from the normal operational routings of the construction works vessels. This training course will be given by the trainers before commencement of work and refreshment course will be provided every quarter.

All the relevant training records will be submitted to Project Manager, ET and IEC at monthly interval to demonstrate the conformance to the EM&A documents.

The training material and its updates will also be provided to ET and IEC for records.

3.3.3 Follow Up Action

For the first time of violating the plan, the Contractor will check, investigate and review the existing works (e.g. method, procedures etc.) and work out a comprehensive corrective action / mitigation measures as agreed with ET, IEC and PM. As for the repeated violating the Plan, the Contractor will cease the concerned operation (if necessary), and on top of implementing the corrective action / mitigation measures, the Contractor will only resume the works until ET, IEC and PM are satisfactory to the follow up actions.

4.0 Summary and Conclusion

This Works Vessel Travel Route Plan presents a review of major construction works of reclamation and other construction activities, working vessels particulars and design criteria of marine travel routes. According to the review, preferred marine travel routes for different construction works are recommended. Method of implementation and monitoring as well as precautionary measures are proposed to minimize any potential impacts to Chinese White Dolphin during the course of reclamation works and other construction activities of Contract No. NL/2017/03 & NL/2020/03.

Appendix A - Particulars of Works Vessels

Vessel
Derrick Barge
Flat Top Barge
Tug Boat
Self Propelled Pelican Barge

Vessel
Hopper
Jack Up Barge
Crane Barge
Self Propelled Cargo Barge

Vessel
DCM Barge
Cement Barge
Grab Barge
PVD Barge
Anchor Boat

Appendix B - Layout Plan Showing Tung Chung East Reclamation Site, Southern Viaduct of Tuen Mun-Chek Lap Kok Link, Tung Chung Buoyed Channel and Brothers Marine Park

Appendix C - Works Vessel Travel Route Plan of Transportation of Materials

Appendix D - Airport Height Restriction and Height Restriction of Southern Viaduct of Tuen Mun-Chek Lap Kok Link

Appendix E - Temporary Mooring Area at WA4 and Holding Area at WA3

Appendix F - Implementation Schedule of the Major Environmental Mitigation Measures