Environmental Protection

In view of the deteriorating climatic conditions stemmed from global warming and pollution problems, "Save our Planet, Protect the Environment" has become a growing global issue. First Ferry is committed to implementing a series of measures aimed at promoting environmental conservation through reducing damage to the environment, energy saving and recycling. Over the past few years, First Ferry was awarded the "Energywi$e" Label and the "Wastewi$e" Label, in recognition of our efforts in environmental protection.

First Ferry is dedicated to providing the comfortable cabin environment with good air quality to our passengers. First Ferry conducted checks on the carbon dioxide (“CO2” ) level of all our self-owned and chartered vessels’ cabin as stipulated in the “Practice Note for Managing Air Quality in Air-conditioned Public Transport Facilities - Ferries” issued in 2015 and found that the CO2 level of all vessels’ cabin is below 2,500 ppm and achieved the “Level 1” Class.

To reduce the emission from vessels, First Ferry has installed the on-shore electricity systems at its Cheung Sha Wan depot, Central Pier 5, Cheung Chau Pier and North Point Pier for switching the operation by electricity when berthing at piers. 

In late 2018, the “First Ferry’s Solar Energy Garden” had been set up at the rooftop of First Ferry’s Office Building. It is about 53 square meters with 27 pieces of 1.95-square-metre solar panels had been installed. First Ferry’s Solar Energy Garden signifies First Ferry’s embarkation on the journey of renewable energy application, which is First Ferry’s first project applying solar energy into its business operation. It is expected 10,000 kWh will be generated in the first year and so on from the solar panels which have a life expectancy of 25-30 years, that in return, around 5,400kg in Co2 emission that generated from the coal-fired electricity could be reduced per year.

On the other hand, First Ferry have a trial of installing the solar panels on a double-deck ordinary ferry “Xin Zhong” to drive the operations of 6 sets of newly-installed ventilation system onboard to enhance the comfort in the cabin, and the initiative had been extended and successfully completed on the other double-deck ordinary ferry “Xin Fei” in August 2019. The measure will be implemented on other ordinary ferries amidst the fleet by phases.

The solar panels on the “Xin Zhong” which drive the operations of 6 sets of newly-installed ventilation system onboard:

The solar panels on the “Xin Fei” which drive the operations of 8 sets of newly-installed ventilation system onboard:

Besides, First Ferry has taken several moves to re-fit the vessels to enhance their environmental friendliness.

• Environmentally-friendly engines are employed which is fitted with an electronic control device and a fuel oil common rail system, that is able to achieve significant reduction in soot emission at low engine speeds, as well as low fuel consumption over the entire performance range, resulting in low emission of carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxide (NOx).
  Using non-toxic anti-fouling coating for vessels which prevents organisms such as barnacle and weed from building up on the underwater hull. The smooth coating surface also helps to reduce carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide emission from engines.
  
• Tinted glass panels in passenger cabins are adopted which can reduce heat radiation from the sun to passenger cabins and thus lower indoor temperature, resulting in less power consumption of air-conditioning.