The ferry reduced speed for about 30 seconds before going into full reverse for about 5 seconds. Looking ahead we saw a transport ship (I do not know which kind) approximately 8-10m ahead of our Sea Supreme crossing from right to left.

Put that in relation to the ferry accident with the speed catamaran yesterday ...

Visibility was really bad but don't those guys use their radar?

Can you tell us more about that, please?

There were something like four accidents in the harbour yesterday alone due to poor visibility. In addition to the big fright Lamma-Por got the other day when a night ferry back to Lamma suddenly cut the engines and stopped in the middle of the harbour, before continuing a few minutes later. No explanation was offered.

What's happening here? Is the formerly extremely safe ferry ride becoming a dangerous adventure?

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We didn't get an explanation either.
And I am sorry but all relevant information is in my initial post.

Explanation:

Ladies and Gentlemen, excuse the slight delay, there was a fucking big ship going past, rather than collide, we decided to avoid it.
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HEMP MARIJUANA

This one hit the net.

The "big ship" was the smaller than the slow ferries to Central.

I think Volley's explanation applies, Alex. Or do you think there may be something more complex involved, perhaps some sort of a conspiracy to make you 30 seconds late?

My concern was more about the "nearly collided" than the "30 secs late" aspect. Whatever.

I thought all these boats had radar. If they do, how come there are so many near-misses and even collisions?

Has anyone seen my bag? I think I left it on the ferry.

They have radars but don't turn it on all the time, as in the night ferries from Aberdeen.

But you would have thought that the foggiest day of the year would be a good time to activate/utilise your radar. Or is that just me being too logical? How do they stand legally if they crash while radar is immobilised? In a deep pile of shit I would hope.

I doubt they have a black box recorder. They can just say it was on. But in the Aberdeen ferries I often go on the upper level, and you can see the radar screen, always on when I've looked.

@Alan:

The radar may be "ON" but it is not necessarily "ACTIVE". You can tell the difference if you see the contours of Lamma on the display and the other ships as little blips.
About 95% of the time, when I take the Aberdeen ferry, they have it turned OFF. I take that one about 2-4 times a week.

The radar's give off radiation, and the crew and master therefore hate using them because of the cramped conditions on the bridge.
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SECOND-GENERATION FORD MUSTANG PICTURE

A few times I did look closely at the monitor I did see moving ships, but not often enough to be a meaningful statistic.

Can't help but wonder why they leave it off at all. Maybe it's a massive power drain?

Another reason for raising fee?

Nothing has changed

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No radar on? Seems like a 'lot' of things seem to not function properly (thermostat for one) even though these tools are on the ferries

Apparently no CCTV on the ferries either. I had thought that the 'cctv camera's would be helpful in a collision, as to the reactions of passengers and staff during any accident or possible one, but apparently they are just for 'show'.

There was a bit of a 'disturbance' on the ferry a few months back, and when it was time for Police to look at the ferry CCTV,... there was no hope as to what happened, as they don't work!

Hong Kong walkers, drivers, pilots and paddlers all have the same instinct. That is to cross in front of an intersecting object and not behind it. Otherwise the ghosts from the other object might start following you. Sounds like the skipper misjudged the speed of the container ship so had to go behind it at the last minute.