Green Island Cement Pier, Kennedy Town [c.1968-c.1998]

Submitted by David on Wed, 10/13/2010 - 10:18
Current condition
Demolished / No longer exists
Date completed
(Day, Month, & Year are approximate.)
Date closed / demolished
(Day, Month, & Year are approximate.)

The photos below show a dramatic accident that happened here in 1981, when MV Sunshine Island collided with the pier.

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Photos that show this Place

Green Island House and it's pier 1970s, Kennedy Town
1970s
1970s Kennedy Town waterfront
1970s
Kennedy Town pier collision-1
1981
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Hi David,

There may be a bit more reference point in this photo:

https://gwulo.com/media/48279/zoom

1.   The incinerator chimney on the most right;

2.   Sai Wan Estate North Terrace at the back on the left;

That may make the pier a little bit further to the western side.  I am unable to recall the exact location, but it may be aligned with the block where Merton Towers reside, or the next block over the eastern side of Davis street.

What I could recall is that, at the day it happened, a friend living in North Street heard a VERY LOUD bang.

T

End of the 1960s, Green Island Cement Co. asked the Government for approval to build storage facilities in Kennedy Town. There is a project proposal to build this facility on  M.L.245 R.P.& S.E.

Green Island Cement Co. refer on their website:

In 1970s, the company had established a depot at Sai Wan Kennedy Town for packaging and storing cement. It was so amazing that a cement silo was completely hidden inside the building.

After the collision of MV Sunshine Island with the pier in 1981, compensation had to be paid and this was finally decided at  THE SUPREME COURT OF HONG KONG, HIGH COURT in 1992(!). The following is referred regarding the pier:

The pier was constructed in about 1968. It was located perpendicular to the seawall and in front of Green Island House (GIH). It was about 100 metres long and between 10 and 26 metres wide, with a one storey superstructure over most of its length and isolated two storey parts at, for instance, the lift room.

It is further reported that the damage only affected the superstructure, the foundations were still intact. Despite the damage, loading of cement continued.

On Google Street View, the pier - or at least a smaller part of it - is still there in 2023.

Update: On aerial photographs, the pier is still there in 1995, but it is gone in 1999. The cement storage building was already demolished in 1995. On this place Manhattan Heights was constructed, opened in 2/2000.

When referring to Klaus's photo, there are another photo (the upper one) which should be in 1967, that was the year before the G.I. House's construction, which represents the same view (location). 

Sai Wan 1967 and 1970s
Sai Wan 1967 and 1970s, by gichmis

The development of residential site Manhattan Heights, composed of 3 land lots: The G.I. House, a cold storage and the Fox Theatre.

The Manhattan Heights' development in year 2000.
The Manhattan Heights' development in year 2000., by gichmis
Sai Wan pier container vessel collision 1981.
Sai Wan pier container vessel collision 1981., by gichmis

According to the defendant's confession, the vessel "Sunshine Island" left the anchorage in the midnight, and then made its first turn when it encountered the Macau ferry "Taishan". After that, a fishing boat without any lights appeared in front, and the captain made a second turn. At this time, the crew told the captain that it was very close to the coast, so the captain decided to perform reversal but it was too late, and the vessel still hit the pier at a speed of 6 knots.

I hereby drew a diagram, but it was just an imagination and did not represent the actual path and position of the ships at that time.

MV Sunshine Island Collision incident in 1981
Sunshine island collision 1981 (inference), by gichmis

The incident resulted in casualties. There were two groups of anglers on the pier at the time. Two people on the right side of the pier fell into the sea during the collision but survived. Other anglers on the left, however, had no idea what was happening and were hit by huge pieces of concrete when the pier collapsed.

Klaus' movie is presumably a clip from the next day's news coverage.

 

It looks that the demolition of the pier started in the second half of 1997 and it was completely removed during the first half of 1998.

Green Island Cement Pier Demolition 1997/98
Green Island Cement Pier Demolition 1997/98, by Klaus

Yes, agree with Kraus, construction of the pier and building began in 1968 and was completely demolished in 1998.

The address of the G.I. House is 71st Catchick Street, Western District.

The pier has an official number: Victoria Permanent Pier no. 61 (the V.P.P. 61)

There are some aerial photos depicting different periods of the pier.

Photo from 1968 show the construction period. The 1981 photo should be from before the collision.
We can see from the 1984 photo that the pier's superstructure debris had been removed, but the tilted conveyor has not yet been restored.

Judging from the 1985 photo, the conveyor was a bit longer than the original design (before 1981), so the berthing position of the barge was changed. From the 1981 photo we can see that the barge will be "inserted into" the pier for unloading, and in 1985 the configuration shows the berthing and unloading location had been changed to the end of the pier. As we can imagine, the unloading operation will be affected by the weather, for example, rainy days or even strong winds may cause the unloading operation to stop.

From the 1997 photo we can see that the G.I. House has been demolished, the roots of the pier was still present but had been demolished and construction of the Manhattan Heights building began in 1998.

G.I. pier Kennedy Town
G.I. pier Kennedy Town, by gichmis

More information about the incident:-

  • The claims for this incident include two lawsuits. One is against the captain of the MV Sunshine Island. It is said that at least the captain's guilt is established, otherwise the ship owner may be able to escape responsibility.
  • The captain of ferry Taishan denied that he had encountered the container vessel (nor hearing any horn sound) during the accident, but he said that he heard a huge impact after passing the accident area.
  • The weather was fine that midnight.
  • The cement company secretary said that white light has been installed at the end of the pier and are illuminated at night.
  • The casualties include: an elderly man and two teenagers. Some people say that the old man lives in a hut on the pier. It is not known whether he is a caretaker or a wanderer. The old man asked two teenagers to come to him at the pier at night and teach them fishing skills. One of the teenagers live near where the incident occurred.
  • The captain, Cheng Ping Tsoo, later fled to Taiwan.
  • Marine Department officials stated that the captain's negligence may have caused the accident. Because of this accident, the government requires large ships to have a pilot when sailing in the harbour.
  • The plaintiff doubted Captain Cheng’s qualifications as a captain.
  • We can see in the video clip that large chunks of concrete fell into the sea as the vessel was towed away. It is the pump house that the total weight is more than 500 tons. It's salvage took more than 3 years.

I found something interesting. Someone told me that some scenes of the American film "Shanghai Surprise" were shot in the Sai Wan District in 1986.

The film was less popular but starred Madonna.

The location filming scenes were shot at the New Praya in Sai Wan. Part of the Green Island House and its inclined conveyor can be seen in the footage.

Wiki page Shanghai Surprise