A top trailer firm is playing its part in helping to clean up one of the world’s most famous harbours.
Since 2001 work has been in progress on a sewage treatment scheme in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour.
The first phase, costing almost £1 billion has been completed and now the second phase is under way.
The main contractors are Leighton Asia Limited, Australia’s largest civil engineering company.
They have turned to Ifor Williams Trailers for assistance with the $410 million contract.
Eight of the company’s P6e trailers are currently on their way to Hong Kong, where they will be used to deliver equipment to 21 kilometres of tunnels and also in any emergency rescues on site.
With a population of five million people living around the harbour, sewage disposal has long been a major problem there.
The project is part of the Hong Kong Government’s Harbour Area Treatment Scheme (HATS).
Until 2001 raw sewage was dumped straight into the harbour, giving it a particularly grim appearance and a rather musky smell.
The aim is to create a world class sewage collection and treatment infrastructure which will restore Hong Kong’s harbour to a more natural and healthier condition.
The first phase of the project has led to 75 per of the sewage discharged into the harbour now being treated. The remaining 25 per cent will be treated when the second phase is completed.
Leighton Asia spokesman Dennis Eng said: “The trailers will be towed around the sites by JCB utility terrain vehicles, and we chose Ifor Williams trailers because we were aware of the quality of the product and their reliability.”
Daniel Joyce, a Sales Co-coordinator with Ifor Williams Trailers, said the P6e trailers, were extremely popular for a variety of uses and could carry up to half a tonne.
Leighton Asia had, he said, dealt directly with them as manufacturers and he understood that one senior official of the Australian firm was aware of Ifor Williams Trailer’s reputation as he was originally from Lancashire.
He added: “In the UK we are used to the idea of importing goods from places like Hong Kong so it’s gratifying that we are sending our market-leading trailers in the opposite direction.
“In fact, our trailers go all over the world and we have distributors as far afield as Australia and New Zealand.
“Among other places, we’ve also sold trailers to the Falkland Islands, Korea, Japan, New Caledonia, Martinique and Guadeloupe.
“So shipping trailers to places like Hong Kong raises no problems and we have sent some to that part of the world in the past.”
