Hong Kong’s Star Ferry has sailed into dire financial straits. The local uproar suggests that allowing the Victoria Harbour icon to sink is an unthinkable outcome even as the city reels from nearly three years of protests and pandemic-induced isolation. Keeping the Wharf empire-owned boats afloat would preserve a slice of history and provide some hope for the future.
Fog shrouds one of Hong Kong's double-decker Star Ferries as it passes a Chinese-style junk sailing through Hong Kong's eastern harbour February 20.has sailed into dire financial straits. The local uproar suggests that allowing the Victoria Harbour icon to sink is an unthinkable outcome even as the city reels from nearly three years of protests and pandemic-induced isolation.
The 142-year-old ferry service’s general manager, David Chow, said this week the company was struggling to pay wages after ringing up some HK$70 million of losses since summer 2019. Hong Kong’s efforts to follow China’s Covid-zero policies have largely killed the tourist trade since 2020, and a recent Omicron outbreak is keeping commuters home too.
Support for maintaining Hong Kong’s heritage has grown in recent years. Tycoon Adrian Cheng is using his New World Development conglomerate to spruce up the city’s derelict State Theatre in North Point. Elsewhere, the Peak Tram, part of the Kadoorie family empire alongside the Peninsula Hotel chain, is undergoing extensive renovation. Neither enterprise is entirely altruistic: Cheng is also redeveloping land around the theatre while the tram, buttressed by property at both ends, is profitable in normal times.
Whether the Woo family, Wharf’s controller, bought and subsidised the Star Ferry itself or the company did so, few investors would probably baulk. Failing that, tenants of Hong Kong’s harbourside skyscrapers may have ideas of their own. Visitors to UBS
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Pandemic postcard: COVID outbreak leaves Hong Kong in limboHONG KONG (AP) — As a COVID-19 outbreak overwhelms Hong Kong, it’s hard for its 7.4 million residents to know what’s next. Uncertainty is the only certainty as store shelves are stripped of goods, mainland Chinese companies throw up sprawling isolation and testing centers and the government sends mixed messages on whether it will lock down the population for a citywide mass testing.
Read more »
Stocks surge in Tokyo, Hong Kong after reassurance from China and Fed rate hikeAsian stock prices surged for a second day Thursday after the Federal Reserve announced its first interest rate hike since 2008 and China promised support...
Read more »
Variety E-Show Daily
Read more »
Alibaba and JD.com soar as China pledges to support marketsChinese- and Hong Kong-listed stocks soared on Wednesday after China's government pledged to support beleaguered markets.
Read more »
Stocks surge in Tokyo, Hong Kong after reassurance from China and Fed rate hikeAsian stock prices surged for a second day Thursday after the Federal Reserve announced its first interest rate hike since 2008 and China promised support...
Read more »
NPR Cookie Consent and Choices
Read more »