Certified by Environmental Team Leader

 

Verified by Independent Environmental Checker

 

                                                                                

Contract No. HY/2013/04

Hong Kong¡VZhuhai¡VMacao Bridge

Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities ¡V

Infrastructure Works Stage II (Southern Portion)

regular marine travel routes plan

 

 

 

 

Position

Name

Signature

Date

Prepared by

Environmental Officer

Billy Lao

14 September 2017

Checked by

Site Agent

Jason Chung

14 September 2017

Approved by

Project Manager

Eddie Tang

14 September 2017

 


Table of Contents

1.0    Introduction.. 3

2.0    Scope of Works under Contract HY/2013/04. 3

3.0    Design Consideration for Regular Marine Travel Routes. 5

3.1    Design Criteria for Marine Travel Routes. 5

3.1.1 .. Hotspot of Chinese White Dolphin in Brothers Island. 5

3.1.2 .. Practice of Navigation Safety. 5

3.1.3 .. Existing Navigation Channel and Marine Traffic. 5

3.1.4 .. Airport Height Restriction (AHR) 5

3.1.5 .. Other Site Limitations. 6

3.2    Construction Activities involving the Regular Marine Travel Routes. 6

4.0    Precautionary Measures. 6

4.1    Hotspot of Chinese White Dolphin in Brothers Island. 7

4.2    Practice of Navigation Safety. 7

4.3    Existing Navigation Channel and Marine Traffic. 7

4.4    Airport Height Restriction (AHR) 8

4.5    Other Site Limitations. 8

5.0    Method of Implementation and Monitoring for RMTR.. 9

5.1    Supervisory Staffs. 9

5.2    Method of Implementation and Monitoring. 9

 

 

 

List of Appendices

Appendix A ¡V Site Location Plan

Appendix B ¡V Existing Navigation Channel Layout

Appendix C ¡V Proposed Marine Travel Route

Appendix D ¡V Airport Height Restriction / Airport Approach Restricted Area Layout

Appendix E ¡V Information for Working Vessels

Appendix F ¡V Information for Site Investigation

 


 

1.0  Introduction

During the tendering stage of the Hong Kong ¡V Zhuhai ¡V Macao Bridge, Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities ¡V Infrastructure Works Stage II (Southern Portion) Contract No. HY/2013/04 (the Contract), the location for loading/unloading pre-cast bridge segments transported by sea was not accessed and assumed to be share use with other Contract, i.e. HY/2013/02.

 

Until commencement of the Contract and actual access to different portions on BCF Island, original loading/unloading point which was managed by other Contract might not be effective. Under this circumstance, the marine travel route shall be considered and established to cater with transportation of the pre-cast bridge segments under this Contract.

 

Pursuant to the Environmental Permit (Permit no. EP-353/2009/K) Condition 2.8 and conforming to the requirement in the EIA Report, marine travel routes of vessels moving to and from the Contract work sites shall be prepared and verified by the IEC and submitted to Environmental Protection Department (EPD) at least 2 weeks before the commencement of the construction. Any subsequent changes to the regular routes shall be verified by the IEC.  Therefore, a Regular Marine Travel Routes Plan (RMTRP) is prepared and submitted.

 

This RMTRP shall describe the design consideration for selection of regular marine travel routes, method of implementation & monitoring and precautionary measures to minimize any potential impacts to Chinese White Dolphin (CWD) and the existing navigation channel.

 

Pursuant to EPD¡¦s memo Ref. No. (20) in Ax(9) to EP2/G/A/146 Pt.2 dated 24 November 2016, the marine travel route shall be adjusted whenever opportunity arises in the course of future realignment / removal of perimeter silt curtains as to avoid encroaching onto the proposed Brother Marine Park as far as possible.  Since the silt curtain previously maintained by the Reclamation Contract, HY/2010/02, was removed in June 2017, an updated regular marine travel route is proposed to fulfill the requirement of EPD.

 

 

2.0  Scope of Works under Contract HY/2013/04

Ø  Construction of vehicular bridges and at-grade roads at south of Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities (HKBCF) Island

Ø  Construction of associated street lighting, street furniture, road marking, road signage, box culverts and outfalls, drainage, sewerage, fresh water and flushing water supply, irrigation, landscape, electrical and mechanical (E&M), utilities and services works

Ø  Provisioning of civil engineering works and power supply for Traffic Control and Surveillance System (TCSS)

 

The above works are land-based. Therefore, no marine activity for this contract is involved except the marine transportation of pre-cast bridge segments. There will be no transportation of construction waste, passengers or other general use using marine vessel.  The anticipated frequency of delivery of segment is three (3) times per week.

 

The site location plan is shown in Appendix A.

 


 

3.0  Design Consideration for Regular Marine Travel Routes

 

3.1     Design Criteria for Marine Travel Routes

3.1.1   Hotspot of Chinese White Dolphin

A hotspot of CWD in Brothers Island, located at North-east of Lantau, was identified in the Environmental Monitoring & Audit (EM&A) Manual of the Contract.  The marine travel routes shall minimize the extent of going through the hotspot of CWD to prevent clashing of dolphin by the working vessels of the Contract.

 

3.1.2   Practice of Navigation Safety

The marine travel route shall be adjusted to accommodate with any natural constraints such as wind, current and wave as well as other marine operators such as speed boats, turbo jets, container vessels and river trade vessels to ensure safe navigation with proper travel routes.

 

Marker buoys and navigation buoys will be adopted to demarcate navigation channel.  The captain shall use marker buoys and navigation buoys to determine proper travel routes based on actual situation and any unexpected incidents.

 

3.1.3   Existing Navigation Channel and Marine Traffic

Existing navigation channels, Ma Wan Channel and Urmston Road Channel, are located east and north-east to the HKBFC Island respectively.  These navigation channels are main inshore passage connecting northwest end of the Victoria Harbour and the month of Pearl River.  The layout of the navigation channels are shown in Appendix B.

 

3.1.4   Airport Height Restriction (AHR)

In accordance with regulation 23 of the Shipping and Port Control Regulation (Cap. 313A), there are eight (8) Areas designated as Airport Approach Restricted Areas.  The details of the Areas are as follows (also refer to Appendix C for map):

 

Except with the permission of the Director of Marine Department,

(i)     No vessel shall enter or pass through Area No. 1, 2, 3, 4.

(ii)    No vessel which has a height exceeding 15 m above the sea level shall enter or pass through Area No. 5, 6.

(iii)  No vessel which has a height exceeding 30 m above the sea level shall enter or pass through Area No. 7, 8.

 

The airport height restriction shall also govern the travel routes of pre-cast bridge segments transportation.  The layout of AHR is shown in Appendix D.

 

3.1.5   Other Site Limitations

The draft of the barge is a critical issue for determining the loading and unloading point due to the existing seabed level of the BCF coast is quite shallow and varies.

 

Location of marine park shall be considered in the planning of potential marine travel route.  It is recognized that one existing marine park is located at Sha Chau/Lung Kwu Chau and one approved marine park is located at Brothers Island.

 

Location of anchorage areas shall be considered when deciding the potential marine travel route.  The potential marine travel route may pass through two (2) anchorage areas.  One of the anchorage areas is located at Sham Shui Kok, approximate 1.5 km east to the BCF artificial island.  The other one is known as Tuen Mun Immigration Anchorage, which is approximate 4 km north to the BCF artificial island.

 

 

3.2     Construction Activities involving the Regular Marine Travel Routes

The vehicular bridges construction requires to transport the pre-cast bridge segments from Zhongshan pre-cast fabrication yard to Hong Kong for installation. The completed segments shall be transported to Hong Kong by the marine travel method. The transportation is tentatively scheduled to start in November 2016 and completed in February 2018 subjected to actual site possession progress. The general layout of the selected marine travel route shall refer to Appendix C.

 

In instance of the occurrence of silt curtain installation/re-deployment works, a dolphin exclusion zone of 250 m beyond the works area shall be implemented.

 

 

4.0  Precautionary Measures

Two marine travel routes from the fabrication yard in Zhongshan to the Site are considered and are as shown in Appendix C. This section will identify the precautionary measures of the above mentioned design considerations and present the selection of the routes

 

4.1    Hotspot of Chinese White Dolphin

The major ecological risk of marine vessel is a moving vessel striking and injuring CWD during travel and navigation. Information regarding the locations of frequent sighting of CWD near the proposed vessel route indicated that the following measures shall also be adopted to minimize the chance of a vessel striking marine mammals.

 

Ø  A vessel speed limit control has been proposed by the EM&A Manual of the contract.  As a minimum requirement, a speed limit of 5 knots shall be enforced within boundaries of the Sha Chau/Lung Kwu Chau Marine Park and the Approved Brothers Marine Park (BMP) to prevent dolphin from clashing by the working vessels.

Ø  If any dolphins are sighted within 250 m of a vessel then the vessel will slow to a speed no greater than 5 knots for at least 3 minutes after the last sighting.

Ø  All captains and the supervisory staff shall conduct training to learn about local dolphins and porpoises. They shall be trained to be aware of the protocol for ¡§dolphin friendly¡¨ vessel operation. All the relevant training records shall be submitted to SO, IEC/ENPO at monthly interval to demonstrate the conformance to the EM&A documents.

 

4.2     Practice of Navigation Safety

The licensed captain shall be the only authorized person to control the working fleets in accordance with all safe navigation requirement and international practice with assistance from navigation aids and marine traffic control team of Marine Department.

 

Skipper training will be provided to licensed captain.  The training will cover local dolphins and porpoises and operation procedures of potential situation encountered when using the marine travel route.  Detailed contents of the training and the qualification of the trainer will be submitted to the Environmental Project Office upon the confirmation of marine logistic company to be hired.

 

4.3     Existing Navigation Channel and Marine Traffic

The width of Urmston Road is approximate 3 km width. The main fairway is located at northern side of Urmston Road, which is close to the coast of Tuen Mun. The proposed marine travel route is located at the southern side of Urmston Road (north to the BCF Island) to avoid clash with the heavy marine traffic.

 

4.4     Airport Height Restriction (AHR)

It is anticipate that segment delivery barge will be adopted for the transportation of pre-cast bridge segments. Since the maximum height of the barge used during travel is approximate 18 m above sea level (refer Appendix E for details), the proposed marine travel route shall not entry the AHR with the minimum height restriction of 30 m.

 

4.5     Other Site Limitations

The maximum draft of the working vessels is approximate 2.3 m; however, the actual operating draft of the working vessels will be limited at approximate 2.0 m to avoid unpredictable shallow sea bed condition. With reference to the Nautical Chart (dated January 2016) prepared by BMT Asia Pacific Ltd., the water depth at east of the BCF Island (refer to Appendix F for details) varies from 4 m to 10 m, with occasional shallow sea bed with water depth of 2.4 m.  Therefore, the chance for vessels to get stranded at the proposed marine travel route is minimal along the east side of the BCF Island.  The shallowest sea bed is located south to the BCF Island. The shallowest water depth is 2.3 m. With the approximate 0.3 m buffer, the working vessels may still risk stranding at unknown occasional high spot on the sea bed during the occurrence of low tide event.  To avoid stranding of the working vessels, the Contractor shall schedule the delivery of materials in accordance with the predicted tides of Hong Kong Observatory.  All working vessels shall travel into work site at high tide in order to reduce sediment plume at shallow water of the works area and minimize mooring at Sham Shui Kok.

 

The proposed marine travel route does not pass through the boundary of Sha Chau/Lung Kwu Chau Marine Park.  The proposed route marine travel route is at the east of the BCF Island and western side to the approved BMP (as shown in Appendix B).  To avoid from entering the approved BMP, the proposed marine travel route shall be close to the seawall at east of the BCF Island as possible.  The trips of delivering shall also be reduced by selecting a possible largest size barge.

 

The proposed route shall be strictly followed.  No entry of BMP will be allowed.  In order to avoid any deviation from the route due to heavy traffic of other contracts at the east of the BCF islands, the following measures shall be maintained:

 

1.    Forecast and develop a delivery schedule with actual delivery date and time.

2.    Notify other contracts the delivery schedule during the monthly marine works liaison meeting to ensure the proposed route is not obstructed during the delivery.

3.    If the proposed route is accidentally obstructed during the delivery, the delivery shall be stopped immediately.  The responsible foreman/engineer shall inform the parties caused the obstruction and continue the delivery only after the obstruction has been cleared.

 

 

5.0  Method of Implementation and Monitoring for RMTR

 

5.1     Supervisory Staffs

The Project Director is the decisive person for minimizing environmental impacts from marine operation. Works Supervisors including Site Manager, Project Manager, Site Agent, Construction Manager, Engineer, Site Forman and the representative of subcontractors will assist the Project Director onsite to implement all precautionary and mitigation measures during the whole construction.

 

5.2     Method of Implementation and Monitoring

The construction of vehicular bridge is divided into onsite and offsite works.

 

Onsite works include piling construction, pile caps, piers, parapets and E&M installation. No marine works are involved for those onsite works.

 

Offsite works mainly comprise the transportation and delivery of concrete pre-cast segments from Zhongshan pre-cast fabrication yard to Hong Kong for installation.

 

All barges and other vessels including tug boat, anchor boat and other self-propelled working fleets shall be equipped with Very High Frequency or/and GPS for track logging of vessels.

 

Induction training shall be provided to the captain and crew of the shipping company.  The content of training shall cover the location of the proposed marine travel route, anchorage areas, the boundary of adjacent marine parks and its corresponding speed limit.  Training shall also introduce the sign of encountering CWD and the applicable precautionary measure of striking CWD, such as, speed limit.  Review training shall be provided to the captain and crew on a six-month basis to increase their awareness.

 

The daily record of marine travel route of all offsite working fleets shall be collected and filed by the supervising staff for inspection and monitoring purposes. Graphical plots of all the vessel tracks overlaid on Hong Kong base map shall be provided at monthly interval to the ER, ETL, IEC/ENPO to demonstrate the conformance of the vessel to the proposed route. If any vessel track log indicating the selected and approved marine travel route is not followed, formal warning shall be issued to the captain and his shipping company or material supplier.

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appendix A

Site Location Plan


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appendix B

Existing Navigation Channel Layout


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appendix C

Regular Marine Travel Route


 

 

 

 

 

 

Appendix D

Airport Height Restriction /Airport Approach Restricted Area Layout


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appendix E

Information for Working Vessels

 




 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appendix F

Nautical Chart