|
|
|
|
| Home | Tour Design | Beijing Tour | China Tour | Beijing Bus Tour | Private Day Tours | China Guide | About | Contact Us |
|
Star Ferry
The Star Ferry is a passenger ferry service operator in Hong Kong, China. Its principal routes carry passengers across the Victoria Harbour, between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. The fleet of twelve ferries operates four routes across the harbour, carrying over 70,000 passengers a day, or 26 million a year. Even though there are now other ways to cross the harbour (by MTR and road tunnels), the Star Ferry continues to provide an efficient, popular and inexpensive mode of crossing the harbour. The company's main route runs between Central and Tsim Sha Tsui, which is what most people mean by "the Star Ferry" in common parlance. This route is also popular with tourists, and has become one of the icons of Hong Kong heritage in the eyes of tourists. From the ferry, one can take in the famous view of the harbour and the Hong Kong skyline. HistoryBefore the steam ferry was created, people would voyage across the harbour in sampans. In 1870, a man named Grant Smith had brought a twin-screw wooden-hulled boat from England and started running it across the harbour, at irregular intervals. In July 1873, an attempt was made to run steam ferries between Hong Kong and Kowloon. This was stopped at the time at the request of the British consul in Canton. The company was originally founded by Parsee merchant Dorabjee Nowrojee as the "Kowloon Ferry Company" in 1888. Nowrojee bought Smith's boat, and later acquired the steam vessels Morning Star and Evening Star from a Mr. Buxoo. It is thought that a regular service to the public was established in the mid-to-late 1870s, after the cession of Kowloon to the British in 1860. The popularity of this means of transport lead to him owning four vessels less than 10 years later, named Morning Star, Evening Star, Rising Star and Guiding Star. Each boat had a capacity of 100 passengers, and the boats averaged 147 crossings each day. He incorporated the business into the "Star Ferry Co Ltd" in 1898, prior to his retirement to India. The company name was inspired by his love of Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "Crossing the Bar", of which the first line reads "Sunset and evening star, and one clear call for me!". Nowrojee sold the company to Hong Kong and Kowloon Wharf on his retirement. In 1924 the Yaumati Ferry would operate the route to Kowloon in duopoly. In 1933 the Star Ferry made history by building the Electric Star, the first diesel electric passenger ferry of its kind. By 1941, the company had six vessels. During the Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong, the competing Yaumati Ferry was allowed to continue, while the Japanese commandeered the Star Ferry for their own purposes. The Golden Star and the Meridian Star were used to transport prisoners of war from Sham Shui Po to Kai Tak. In 1943, the Golden Star was bombed and sunk in the Canton River by the Americans, and the Electric Star was sunk in the harbour. After the war, the ferries were dredged up and returned to service. Until the opening of the Cross Harbour Tunnel in 1972, the Star Ferry remained the main means of public transportation between Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon side. The pier was decommissioned on November 11, 2006, and demolition completed in the first quarter of 2007 to enable Phase I of the Central Reclamation project to take place. FilmographyThe Star Ferry makes a "star turn" in the 1950s film The World of Suzie Wong. In the beginning of the film, Robert Lomax (played by William Holden) debarks from the USS President Harrison (an old American President Line transpacific passenger vessel) and takes the Star Ferry to Hong Kong Island, and on the ferry meets Suzie Wong (played by Nancy Kwan), who scorns his attentions as unwanted. The ferry itself is completely recognizable, and the layout of the pier where William Holden debarks in Kowloon is familiar to the resident or denizen of Tsim Sha Tsui, except for the giant shopping malls constructed since the film was shot. Public protestsIn 1966, a fare increase of 5 cents (or 25%) of the ferry was a political milestone, as it caused a 27 year-old student to go on hunger strike in protest at the Edinburgh Place terminal. His arrest sparked the 1966 Hong Kong Riots. On November 11, 2006, the end of an era was marked when the third generation pier in Central, the Edinburgh Place Ferry Pier, ended its mission, along with the big clock tower. The pier was be demolished to make way for reclamation, amidst sentimental objections and some violent protests. Ferry routes and faresThe Star Ferry operates the following cross-harbour routes:
FleetThere are currently 8 ships in the Star fleet with average age of the fleet at 44 years:
|
|
|
China tour|Beijing tour|China tour Package|Silk road tour|Yangtze crurse|China travel guide|Great Wall Of China|Links Beijing Bus Tour|Beijing Private Tour|北京新娘化妆|Beijing Group Tour Copyright www.chinatourdesign.com Mobile : 0086-13683002918 Mr Danser( 24 hours ) E-mail : chinatourdesign@yahoo.cn Skype : chinatourdesign MSN :chinatourdesign@yahoo.cn ( MSN Only ) |
