Hong Kong's maritime authority said Wednesday that it will launch electronic business service in near future so that ship owners and agents can at once submit registration documents required by different government branches.

The Maritime Department of the Hong Kong Special Administration government has set up a booth featuring the online document submission service at the ongoing China Maritime 2008 exhibition, which ran March 12-14.

The new system would make it possible to "accept one-stop online submission of the documents required by the Maritime Department, the Department of Health and the Immigration Department for port formality application," officials said.

Hong Kong is one of the world's leading shipping centers. The gross tonnage of the ships registered in Hong Kong topped the 36 million mark as of Dec. 21, 2007, government statistics showed.

Since 2006, Hong Kong has twice hosted China Maritime, which was the only international maritime exhibition in the Pearl River Delta region and southern China. The event attracted over 130 exhibitors from 18 countries and regions this year.

The event organizer Baird Publications said Asia was having an increasing influence on global shipping, and Hong Kong, as Asia's premier cargo and container hub and the world's largest passenger port, was in control of 9 percent of the world's total tonnage.

The Maritime Department said it was trying to promote itself as the competent authority for port operation, as well as ensuring waters safety and ship quality.

(Xinhua News Agency, March 13, 2008)