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Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) announced today (November 19) that 52 Lunar New Year (LNY) fair stalls will be available to the public for renting at their upset prices from November 27 to December 3, on a first-come, first-served basis.

​The LNY fairs will be held from February 11 to 17, 2026. The abovementioned stalls are three fast food stalls, one large-size dry goods stall, and 48 regular-size dry goods stalls. Locations and prices are as follows: 
 

Fair venues	Nature of stalls	Number of stalls	Let out price per one stall
Victoria Park (Causeway Bay)	Dry goods (regular size)	2	$8,540
Tat Tung Road Garden (Tung Chung)	Dry goods (regular size)	8	$450
Fa Hui Park (Sham Shui Po)	Dry goods (regular size)	14	$7,800
Cheung Sha Wan Playground (Sham Shui Po)	Fast food	1	$2,290
Kwun Tong Recreation Ground (Kwun Tong)	Dry goods (regular size)	1	$2,130
To Kwa Wan Recreation Ground (Kowloon City)	Dry goods (regular size) Dry goods (large size) Fast food	15 1 2	$1,340 $2,020 $2,660
Sha Tsui Road Playground (Tsuen Wan)	Dry goods (regular size)	1	$8,480
Tin Hau Temple Plaza (Tuen Mun)	Dry goods (regular size)	1	$2,140
Po Hong Park (Tseung Kwan O)	Dry goods (regular size)	5	$1,540
Yuen Wo Playground (Sha Tin)	Dry goods (regular size)	1	$4,570

The number of available stalls may be subject to change, and the actual number of stalls available for renting will be released on November 27.

​People who are interested in renting a stall should approach the following FEHD offices, as appropriate, to apply in person from 9.30am to 12.30pm or 2.30pm to 4.30pm during the abovementioned renting period:
 

Fair venues	Address of handling office	Telephone number
Victoria Park (Causeway Bay)	8/F, Lockhart Road Municipal Services Building, 225 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong	2879 5706
Tat Tung Road Garden (Tung Chung)	25/F, Harbour Building, 38 Pier Road, Central, Hong Kong	2852 4549
Fa Hui Park (Sham Shui Po) Cheung Sha Wan Playground (Sham Shui Po) Kwun Tong Recreation Ground (Kwun Tong) To Kwa Wan Recreation Ground (Kowloon City)	Room 301-302, 3/F, FEHD Nam Cheong Offices and Vehicle Depot, 87 Yen Chow Street West, Kowloon	2309 2086
Sha Tsui Road Playground (Tsuen Wan)	3/F, Yeung Uk Road Municipal Services Building, 45 Yeung Uk Road, Tsuen Wan, New Territories	2212 9755
Tin Hau Temple Plaza (Tuen Mun)	Room 18, 1/F, Tuen Mun Government Offices, 1 Tuen Hi Road, Tuen Mun, New Territories	2454 6621 / 2451 3414
Po Hong Park (Tseung Kwan O)	7/F, Sai Kung Tseung Kwan O Government Complex, 38 Pui Shing Road, Tseung Kwan O, New Territories	3740 5100
Yuen Wo Playground (Sha Tin)	Units 1201-1207 and 1220-1221, Level 12, Tower 1, Grand Central Plaza, 138 Sha Tin Rural Committee Road, Sha Tin, New Territories	2634 0136

Applicants must be at least 18 years old and ordinarily reside in Hong Kong. Each applicant may select only one stall at a time. Successful applicants shall comply with all the stipulations and provisions as set out in the licence agreement. An FEHD spokesman stressed that the public should not assign, sublet, transfer or otherwise part with any of the benefits or obligations of the licence agreement of the LNY fair stalls. Otherwise, the department is entitled to terminate the agreement and the licensee shall immediately vacate the stall.
 
All fair sites will be made available to the licensees three days in advance of the fairs (from February 8 to 10, 2026) for the setting up of stalls. In the event of any unforeseeable incident that will cause a shortening of the whole licence period (including the duration for setting up stalls and the business period of the fair), the Government has the right to postpone the commencement date and shorten the duration of the period. The let out price (licence fee) paid will be refunded to the licensee on a pro-rata basis without interest.
 
Stall licensees must completely remove the stall structure and all paraphernalia, together with all refuse, debris and unsold commodities (whether damaged or otherwise), from the licensed area before 7am on February 17, 2026 (9am for the Victoria Park LNY Fair).
 
The FEHD reminded licensees that the stalls are solely for the purpose of selling and promoting the sale of the permitted commodities, and no other activities are allowed in the licensed area. If the FEHD considers that any activity conducted by the licensee to publicise, promote, display, show or sell any permitted commodities in the venue is unlawful, contrary to the interest of national security, immoral or incompatible with the object of the LNY fair, the FEHD is entitled to direct the licensee to stop conducting such activities and the licensee must immediately comply with the direction.

Stall licensees should not destroy, damage or abandon any unsold commodities at or in the vicinity of the stall. They may surrender unsold flowers and plants left behind at the stall to the FEHD at no charge, cost or compensation whatsoever, before 7am on February 17, 2026 (9am for the Victoria Park LNY Fair).
 
According to the licence agreement, except inside designated stalls, licensees must not keep, store or use any compressed helium cylinder in the licensed area. Whereas licensees of the designated stalls may keep, store or use helium cylinders in the licensed area, the quantity of helium should be such that a licence is not required pursuant to the Dangerous Goods (Application and Exemption) Regulation 2012 (Cap. 295E), i.e. equivalent to 150 litres of helium. Sales of floatable LED glowing balloons and aquarium fish by stall licensees are prohibited at the LNY fairs.
 
In addition, as stated in the licence agreement, the height of dry goods stalls must not exceed 3 metres from ground level. The height of wet goods stalls and fast food stalls must not exceed 4.5m from ground level. For wet goods stalls and fast food stalls with a height of more than 3m from ground level, the licensee must, at their own costs, provide the FEHD with the original certificate issued by an authorised person, a registered structural engineer, or a competent person under the Construction Sites (Safety) Regulations (Cap. 59I) to certify the structural safety of the structure in the licensed area before the fair is opened to the public. The licensee must also affix a copy of the aforesaid certificate on the structure of the stall. Also, each corner and anchor point of the marquee (if any) shall be securely fastened using appropriate ballast weights, such as sandbags or purpose-designed marquee water weights. During the period when the Strong Monsoon Signal is in force or to be issued, the licensee shall immediately inspect the stall and adopt reinforcement measures as necessary.

Public notices and details of the renting of 2026 LNY fair remaining stalls on a first-come, first-served basis are available at the FEHD website (www.fehd.gov.hk) or by calling the FEHD hotline at 2868 0000. 

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

     An incoming male passenger was sentenced to two months’ imprisonment and fined $1,000 by the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts today (November 19) for possessing duty-not-paid cigarettes and failing to declare them to Customs officers, in contravention of the Dutiable Commodities Ordinance (DCO).
 
     A 55-year-old incoming male passenger arrived in Hong Kong from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on November 18. During customs clearance, Customs officers seized about 10 800 duty-not-paid cigarettes with an estimated market value of about $44,000 and a duty potential of about $36,000, from his personal baggage. The passenger was subsequently arrested.
 
     Customs welcomes the sentence. The custodial sentence has imposed a considerable deterrent effect and reflects the seriousness of the offences.
 
     Customs reminds members of the public that under the DCO, tobacco products are dutiable goods to which the DCO applies. Any person who imports, deals with, possesses, sells or buys illicit cigarettes commits an offence. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years.
 
     Members of the public may report any suspected illicit cigarette activities to Customs’ 24-hour hotline 182 8080 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk) or online form (eform.cefs.gov.hk/form/ced002).

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

A high-level meeting between Hong Kong Customs and the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China (GACC) was held in Hong Kong yesterday (November 18). The delegations from both sides were headed by the Commissioner of Customs and Excise, Mr Chan Tsz-tat, and the Vice-Minister of the GACC, Mr Zhao Zenglian, respectively.

Mr Chan welcomed Mr Zhao’s visit to Hong Kong Customs with his delegation. Witnessed by Mr Zhao and Mr Chan, the Assistant Commissioner (Boundary and Ports) of Customs and Excise, Ms Chiang Yi-lee, and the Deputy Director General of the Office of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs of the GACC, Mr Zhang Xiaohui, signed the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) regarding the inspection and quarantine of air-to-land transhipment of fresh fruits to the Chinese Mainland via Hong Kong.

The signing of the MoC will enhance the efficient and smooth operation of the Air-Land Fresh Lane between the two customs authorities, deepen collaboration in clearance and quarantine, improve the efficiency and safety of the transhipment of fresh food products, and promote high-quality development of fresh food trade in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Afterwards, both sides discussed multiple co-operative issues, including combating smuggling, intelligence exchange, consumer product safety, trade facilitation measures, and personnel training.

On the same day, the delegations toured the Customs Radar Monitoring Command Centre at the Customs Marine Base on Stonecutters Island and took a ride on a sector patrol launch to visit sea-borne smuggling black spots to learn about the maritime enforcement work of Hong Kong Customs.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

     Police today (November 19) appealed to the public for information on a man who went missing in Aberdeen.

     Chan Ho-yin, aged 38, went missing after he left his residence in Ap Lei Chau Estate on November 15 noon. His family made a report to Police on November 17.

     He is about 1.75 metres tall, 75 kilograms in weight and of medium build. He has a long face with yellow complexion and medium-long brown hair. He was last seen wearing a black and red short-sleeved shirt, black shorts, black and red slippers and a pair of glasses.

     Anyone who knows the whereabouts of the missing man or may have seen him is urged to contact the Regional Missing Persons Unit of Hong Kong Island on 2860 1040 or email to rmpu-hki@police.gov.hk, or contact any police station.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

An owner was convicted and fined $806,000 in total, of which $182,000 was the fine for the number of days that the offence continued at the Fanling Magistrates’ Courts yesterday (November 18) for failing to comply with removal orders issued under the Buildings Ordinance (BO) (Cap. 123).

The case involved an unauthorised structure with an area of about 6 000 square metres across 13 sections of a lot in D.D. 52, Fu Tei Au, North District. Since the Lands Department would not issue a certificate of exemption for the unauthorised building works (UBWs) and the UBWs were also carried out without prior approval and consent from the Buildings Department (BD), 13 removal orders were served on the owner under section 24(1) of the BO. Failing to comply with the removal orders, the owner was prosecuted by the BD.

A spokesman for the BD said today (November 19), “UBWs may lead to serious consequences. Owners must comply with removal orders without delay. The BD will continue to take enforcement action against owners who fail to comply with removal orders, including instigation of prosecution, to ensure building and public safety.”

Failure to comply with a removal order without reasonable excuse is a serious offence under the BO. The maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $200,000 and one year’s imprisonment, and a further fine of up to $20,000 for each day that the offence continues.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

The Government announced today (November 19) the establishment of the Green Maritime Fuel Development Communication Platform to catalyse the development of a green maritime fuel bunkering supply chain in Hong Kong through communication and collaboration among industry stakeholders, with the goal of developing Hong Kong into a green maritime fuel bunkering and trading centre.

The Transport and Logistics Bureau (TLB) promulgated the Action Plan on Green Maritime Fuel Bunkering last November, outlining five strategies and 10 actions to develop Hong Kong into a centre for green maritime fuel bunkering. Among the measures in the Action Plan is the establishment of a collaborative platform for the industry to support the development of effective supply chains and trading channels. The newly launched Communication Platform is a major initiative to foster industry collaboration, bringing together upstream and downstream companies within the green maritime fuel bunkering supply chain, including fuel suppliers, shipping companies, and port operators, among others. In addition to gathering views from Communication Platform members regarding the development of green maritime fuel bunkering and trading in Hong Kong, the Government will organise networking activities and government-facilitated business meetings to enhance stakeholder communication and co-operation, thereby expediting the establishment of a complete and resilient green maritime fuel bunkering supply chain in Hong Kong.

The Secretary for Transport and Logistics, Ms Mable Chan, said at today’s International Bunker Industry Association Annual Convention, “The Communication Platform aims to facilitate business discussion and collect views from the trade on ways to bolster our competitiveness in green maritime fuel bunkering and trading. We warmly welcome all interested Hong Kong companies, as well as Mainland and foreign companies with a presence in Hong Kong, to join the Communication Platform and develop Hong Kong into a premier green maritime fuel bunkering and trading centre together.”

Currently, 25 companies and industry organisations have joined the Communication Platform. The TLB encourages more companies and industry organisations involved in green maritime fuel bunkering to join and explore business opportunities together. Details about the Communication Platform and application forms can be obtained from the TLB website: www.tlb.gov.hk/eng/boards/transport/maritime/gmfdlg.html.

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region – 4

     Following is the speech by the Secretary for Transport and Logistics, Ms Mable Chan, at the International Bunker Industry Association (IBIA) Annual Convention 2025 today (November 19):
 
Constantinos (Chair of the IBIA and Bunker Director at the Star Bulk Carriers, Mr Constantinos Capetanakis), Alexander (Executive Director of the IBIA, Mr Alexander Prokopakis), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, and many friends, old and new,
 
     Welcome again to Hong Kong. Today is getting a little bit cold and I know that every one of you has made an effort to arrive here to make it for this forum. I can assure you that with the Chair’s remarks, you would have a lot of takeaways from this forum this morning. It is actually a distinct honour for Hong Kong to host the IBIA’s premier flagship event here for the very first time. Judging from what Constantinos just said, I think Hong Kong and the IBIA share a lot of the same vision. I truly agree with the particular phrase you mentioned that we need leadership and we need action and solutions, rather than just rules or discussions inside closed doors, we need to go to the ground. We also need to lead everybody for a joint solution towards the green transformation.
 
     The IBIA’s decision to host this event in Hong Kong is absolutely spot on. As you all know, we’re renowned for our highly efficient, professional and smart port services, consistently ranking us among the world’s top international maritime centres. This is complemented by our thriving bunkering activities, which put us seventh in the world, second in our country and first in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. We haven’t said so in the past, but as we move on from conventional fuel to greener fuel for shipping vessels, we dig out our figures and records. It seems that it is not just that we have been doing good and ranking high in terms of cargo throughput, but we have also been making use of our pivotal position to provide fuel for ocean-going vessels over the decades. Therefore, it seems more than suitable to discuss the latest developments in bunkering in the busiest bunkering hub and the most happening port in the region. So I can assure you, Alexander, you have chosen the right place to host this forum since your visit last year.

     Our strength in bunkering is no coincidence: Hong Kong is strategically located at the southernmost tip of southern China right next to international fairways, making it a perfect place for ships to refuel. And now, as the entire marine community is pivoting to decarbonisation, a great opportunity lies right ahead of us. By leveraging this strategic position, Hong Kong is poised to develop into a leading centre for green maritime fuel bunkering as well as trading – ensuring we continue to meet the industry’s evolving needs for top-notch, sustainable bunkering services. In fact, to support the International Maritime Organization (IMO)’s vision of achieving net-zero carbon emissions from international shipping by or around 2050, the HKSAR (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region) Government took action quickly, and we are determined to do so, notwithstanding the hiccups recently on the schedule of the IMO. Exactly one year ago, we laid out a clear pathway and roadmap for our port in the Action Plan on Green Maritime Fuel Bunkering promulgated.    
 
     The thinking behind our Action Plan is very simple: we need to offer the industry a clear direction on green maritime fuel adoption, supported by policies that can turn our shared vision for a green maritime fuel bunkering and trading centre into reality. That’s why we’ve set out in the Action Plan five main strategies – Green Fuel, Green Port, Green Incentives, Green Collaboration and Green Talents. We have 10 specific measures underpinning these five strategies.

     Starting with Green Fuels, we make clear that Hong Kong will adopt a multi-fuel strategy, with the most commonly used or explored fuels such as LNG (liqified natural gas), biodiesel, methanol, ammonia and hydrogen being the fuels of choice. We then set out to build up a supply chain of such fuels in Hong Kong, from locating sources of green fuels in the proximity, that is the Chinese Mainland, which is conveniently right next to us and have been the largest supplier of such fuels by far, to developing storage facilities and providing bunkering infrastructure in Hong Kong. We are small, but I think we will be targeted and focused in providing, putting and rolling out storage facilities, infrastructure support, so as to allow Hong Kong to provide a miniature of the ecosystem that is advocated under the IBIA. Crucially, this strategy is already backed by concrete regulatory actions. Just to name a few, we have passed the enabling legislation, published technical requirements and guidelines, and approved a duty exemption for methanol bunkering. In the old days, there used to be some industry using the methanol for making wine. And that is not good for health. That is why we have updated legislation on charging duty on methanol. It might have just looked like a simple piece of legislation; we went around the government administration, particularly the health authorities, the doctors and the medical practitioners. While we respect their professionalism, it took us some time to convince them that we are now looking for bunkering only, for our outward-looking ships and not winemaking. While we have already amended our law, we promised that we will input, inject some of the tightened safeguarding measures, from the customs point of view, to make sure that there will be no abuse of this tax exemption. But this is a right signal that we have expedited, and we hope to see the first-ever methanol bunkering operation soon in Hong Kong.

     These are the precise policy measures, and legislative and supporting measures that we promised. We are designed to make green maritime fuel bunkering a practical and competitive reality. One year on, we have indeed come a long way, with commercial LNG and biodiesel bunkering services now available in Hong Kong and nearly 200 000 tonnes of green maritime fuels bunkered to date in Hong Kong. Still a lot of our industry players are not aware that Hong Kong has been treated to that point. They think that we are still at the initiation stage, still at the drafting stage. But I need to publicise more and talk more that we are actually actionable. We put things into operation, and it’s not just for pilots, but it was for commercial operation. The first methanol bunkering operation, as I just mentioned, will also happen before long, while we will start looking into ammonia and hydrogen bunkering and hope to tell the market where we stand on it soon.
 
     We fully recognise that the maritime industry is global by nature. I also mentioned and discussed at the ICS (International Chamber of Shipping) summit, we do not treat Hong Kong-based shipping companies as local companies. We treat them all along as global companies. We are globally based. We need to take their concerns and anxieties, arising from all the geopolitical circumstances, dear to our hearts. We have to listen, facilitate and help them to resolve and to take solutions. A truly green transition can’t happen in isolation; it demands collaboration between ports available worldwide. First, we have been supporting our port operators in their effort to reduce carbon emissions and create a greener port. But just as importantly, we are looking outward, we are actively identifying ports with which to establish green shipping corridors. I would like to learn more from the IBIA, because from your base worldwide, I already know that there are a few existing green shipping corridors in operation, and there are a few being planned. I very much hope that Hong Kong will be able to participate in some of those, if not all. If Hong Kong can lead discussions on creating a new ones, perhaps in this part of the region, we can actively participate and contribute. For the very first step, we have also announced the signing of the first batch of partner ports. This paved our way to put Hong Kong in a more high-profile position, so that we can attract more sisters and brothers to build a greater alliance. This initiative will definitely drive us to upgrade our infrastructure and enhance green maritime fuel bunkering capabilities, with the ultimate goal of creating truly net-zero emission shipping lanes. We will have some exciting updates on this front next year, particularly on our move towards creating or joining the green shipping corridors. It is not just an upward or a high profile publicising move, but actually I would like to use this to drive inward, back home. The effort towards building a green port is very important to push our ship operators or container terminal operators to invest and expedite their action. The IBIA Secretariat will know that there needs to be a lot of participation and influence, especially on the operators because they have to really invest billions and trillions of money. They will need to know the long-term future and long-term bright spot on that. But in the meantime, they will definitely need to make some tough decisions right in the short term for investments. With Hong Kong putting our footprint on the worldwide green transformation path, I would like to use this as a triggering point to enable our operators and industry players to join, participate and act.
 
     Closer to home, we are forging partnerships with stakeholders from both Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland. I think one of the points that the IBIA comes to Hong Kong is that you would like to run Hong Kong as a platform and you can get more knowledge about what is happening in the Chinese Mainland. In particular, we have set up some platforms and communication channels to focus squarely on fuel supply and trading with the Chinese Mainland. A powerful example of this collaboration was this June, when we signed Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) with four green maritime fuel suppliers and bunker operators. This took place at a groundbreaking event – the first ever Mainland-Hong Kong green energy business matchmaking event organised under the auspices of the Ministry of Commerce of the Central People’s Government. It is actually motivated and rooted between the Ministry of Commerce and my bureau. We hosted that matchmaking event in a dual mode. It was hosted both in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. We witnessed the signing of the MOU online and in parallel mode, thanks to all the digital technological backup. With over 300 industry representatives participating, the event was a clear sign of our shared commitment to building a thriving ecosystem for maritime fuel bunkering and trading. But we didn’t stop there, we established a communication platform that encompasses companies registered and doing business in Hong Kong from across the entire maritime fuel bunkering supply chain, with a view to facilitating business discussion and collecting views from the trade on ways to bolster our competitiveness in green maritime fuel bunkering and trading. We warmly welcome all interested Hong Kong companies to join the communication platform. For all those from abroad, we welcome you to have branches or headquarters in Hong Kong, and we also welcome them to join this communication platform which we will be announcing soon, so stay tuned. Together, we can firmly put Hong Kong on the map as a premier green maritime fuel bunkering hub in the region, as well as a green maritime fuel trading centre that acts as the gateway for export and trading of Mainland-produced green maritime fuels.

     Ladies and gentlemen, the transition towards green maritime fuels is an irreversible trend for the maritime industry and this is what we have mentioned. This isn’t a choice or an option; it’s an imperative. And Hong Kong is all in. To navigate this change, we need forums like this. The IBIA has the right decision to have this spot right in this year’s Hong Kong Maritime Week. I am sure you have helped drive some of our 18 000-plus participants this year, which is a record high. Today is about preparing for that future. The conversations in this room will equip us with the crucial steps we need very much to take, together and ahead. My thank to the IBIA for bringing us all together today, I encourage all participants this morning to make best of this event, learn more about the opportunities here in Hong Kong and also worldwide in different countries, different ports. We are all very passionate, notwithstanding the International Maritime Organization’s agenda, and we hope that we can explore how we, together, can be a part of that exciting green journey.

     I wish you all a very fruitful event and a pleasant stay in Hong Kong. Thank you very much.