Sixteen guests, a licence for twelve, and diesel in the water
You are coxswain of a licensed pleasure vessel, licensed to carry a maximum of 12 persons, taking a birthday party from Sai Kung to a beach at Tai Long Wan. Sixteen guests arrive, plus two of your friends who want to come along 'as crew'. During the trip a guest throws two empty beer cans and a plastic bag over the side and laughs about it. On the way back you refuel at a marine diesel pump; the nozzle jumps out of the filler, and about 20 litres of diesel goes into the water and spreads into a rainbow sheen around the hull. Your bilge pump is also discharging a thin oily film, a job you have been meaning to fix for weeks. The fuel dock attendant tells you to hose it down and put some washing-up liquid on it.
1. Deal with the refuelling incident. What do you do at the fuel dock in the first few minutes, and what must you not do?
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Stop the operation first. Stop the pump, close the fuel valve, and do not start the engine or use anything that could ignite vapour; diesel is less volatile than petrol but the sheen and the vapour still make a naked flame or a spark a bad idea.
Contain what you can. Throw absorbent pads or a boom if the dock has them, and if not, use anything oil-absorbent to stop the spread rather than chasing it with a hose. Do not hose it down: you will turn 20 litres into a much bigger, thinner spill across the whole basin.
Do not add detergent or dispersant. Washing-up liquid does not remove the oil; it breaks the sheen into droplets that sink and are far harder to recover, and the use of chemical dispersants in Hong Kong waters requires approval. Doing it to hide a spill turns a handling mistake into a deliberate offence.
Notify the fuel dock operator and report the spill to the Marine Department without delay, giving the location, quantity, product and what you have done. Record the time, the amount and the actions in the log while it is fresh, and fix the bilge and filler arrangements before the vessel goes to sea again.
2. What are your legal obligations over the oil and the rubbish, and who carries the responsibility?
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Under the Merchant Shipping (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Ordinance (Cap. 413) and the regulations made under it, the discharge of oil into Hong Kong waters is prohibited, and there is a duty to report a discharge to the Marine Department as soon as practicable - you do not get to decide that 20 litres is too small to mention. The vessel must also be maintained so that oily bilge water is not pumped overboard; a bilge that routinely discharges an oily film is a standing breach, not a cosmetic problem.
Garbage is covered separately: plastics may never be thrown overboard, and discharging cans and bags from a small craft in coastal waters is an offence, not high spirits. The coxswain is responsible for briefing passengers and for preventing it - 'a guest did it' is not a defence when the coxswain watched it happen.
Responsibility sits with the coxswain as master of the vessel, and typically with the owner as well. The consequences are not just a fine: the Marine Department can act against the vessel's licence and against your Certificate of Competency, and your insurance position can be affected.
3. What do you do about the sixteen guests and the two friends, and how do you handle it without losing the booking?
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The vessel's licence states the maximum number of persons, and that number is not a target to negotiate. Sixteen guests is already four over; adding two friends makes eighteen. Whether they count as crew depends on whether they are genuinely carried for the business of the vessel and have real duties on this voyage - on a birthday trip to a beach, they are passengers whatever they are called.
The decision is made at the pontoon, not at sea. Do not sail overloaded and do not 'just take the short route'. Explain clearly to the organiser that the licence and third-party insurance cover 12 persons, that an overloaded small craft loses freeboard and stability and cannot be evacuated quickly in an emergency, and that you would lose your certificate for doing it. Offer a workable alternative: two trips, or a second licensed boat for the extra guests, with a clear time for the second departure.
Then brief everyone who does board: no rubbish over the side, lifejacket locations, and where to sit. Record the numbers on board and the time of departure. A coxswain who refuses a trip is doing the job; a coxswain who takes 18 people to keep a booking is gambling with his livelihood and their lives.