Sun Ferry Services Company Limited, formerly New World First Ferry Services (in short New World First Ferry, First Ferry or NWFF), is a ferry service company in Hong Kong. The company was established in November 1999, when it took over the eight licensed ferry routes transferred from Hongkong and Yaumati Ferry in January 2000.

Background

When the company commenced its service on 15 January 2000, it bought 14

ferries A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water tax ...

and rented seven

hovercraft A hovercraft, also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is an amphibious craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, and other surfaces. Hovercraft use blowers to produce a large volume of air below the hull, or air cushion, ...

and

catamaran A Formula 16 beachable catamaran Powered catamaran passenger ferry at Salem, Massachusetts, United States A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a multi-hulled watercraft featuring two parallel hulls of equal size. It is a geometry-sta ...

s from its predecessor. Since then it has introduced 10 fast vessels on Outlying Islands routes to phase out the rented vessels and to improve services. It used to have a subsidiary, New World First Ferry Services (Macau) (abbreviated New World First Ferry (Macau)), which operated a fast ferry service between

Kowloon Kowloon () is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. With a population of 2,019,533 and a population density of in 2006, it is the most populous area in Hong Kong, compared with Hong Kong Island and ...

( China Ferry Terminal in

Tsim Sha Tsui Tsim Sha Tsui, often abbreviated as TST, is an urban area in southern Kowloon, Hong Kong. The area is administratively part of the Yau Tsim Mong District. Tsim Sha Tsui East is a piece of land reclaimed from the Hung Hom Bay now east of Tsi ...

) and

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

( Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Pier). In 2011, it was sold to Shun Tak-China Travel Ship Management Limited, the owner of

TurboJET The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, a ...

. That subsidiary has now been renamed.

Routes

It operates the following routes: *

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...

Cheung Chau Cheung Chau (lit. "Long Island") is an island southwest of Hong Kong Island. It is nicknamed the 'dumbbell island (啞鈴島)' due to its shape. It has been inhabited for longer than most other places in Hong Kong, and had a population of ...

and

Mui Wo Mui Wo is a rural town on the eastern coast of Lantau Island in Hong Kong. The 2011 Census recorded 5,485 people living in Mui Wo and its environs. Mui Wo is located on Silvermine Bay, so named for the silver mines that were once worked along ...

*Circular between Peng Chau,

Chi Ma Wan Chi Ma Wan () is a bay on southeastern Lantau Island, New Territories, Hong Kong. Chi Ma Wan Peninsula () is where Chi Ma Wan, as well as Cheung Sha Wan, Tai Long Wan, Yi Long Wan and Mong Tung Wan are located. The Peninsula is located with ...

, and

North Point North Point is a mixed-use urban area in the Eastern District of Hong Kong. Located in the northeastern part of Hong Kong Island, the area is named after a cape between Causeway Bay and Tsat Tsz Mui that projects toward Kowloon Bay. Locat ...

Hung Hom Hung Hom () is an area in the southeast of Kowloon Peninsula, Hong Kong. Including the area of Whampoa, Tai Wan, Hok Yuen, Lo Lung Hang and No. 12 Hill are administratively part of the Kowloon City District, with a portion west of Hu ...

and

Kowloon City Kowloon City is an area in New Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is part of Kowloon City District. Compared with the council area of Kowloon City District, the Kowloon City area is History As early as in the Qin dynasty (221 BCE – 206 BCE), ...

to Joss House Bay (大廟灣) (special service which only operates on Tin Hau-birthday-festival) Ceased routes: *

to Peng Chau *

and

Tuen Mun Tuen Mun or Castle Peak is an area near the mouth of Tuen Mun River and Castle Peak Bay in the New Territories, Hong Kong. It was one of the earliest settlements in what is now Hong Kong and can be dated to the Neolithic period. In the more ...

Tai O Tai O is a fishing town, partly located on an island of the same name, on the western side of Lantau Island in Hong Kong. The village name means ''large inlet'', referring to outlet for the waterways (Tai O Creek and Tai O River) merges as ...

(via: Tung Chung and Sha Lo Wan) *

Chek Lap Kok Chek Lap Kok is an island in the western waters of Hong Kong's New Territories. Unlike the smaller Lam Chau, it was only partially leveled when it was assimilated via land reclamation into the island for the current Hong Kong International ...

Tung Chung Tung Chung, meaning " eastern stream", is an area on the northwestern coast of Lantau Island, Hong Kong. One of the most recent new towns, it was formerly a rural fishing village beside Tung Chung Bay, and along the delta and lower courses of ...

Inter-cities * Hong Kong to Macau (sold to

in 2011)

Fleet

HK-First-Ferry-Xin-Guang-A10293-Oct-2008-00

Current fleet

Former fleet

Ownership

New World First Ferry was owned by

NWS Holdings NWS Holdings Limited () is the conglomerate flagship of New World Development. It was established in 2002 when its predecessor, Pacific Ports Company Limited, acquired New World Services Limited from New World Development and the infrastructure a ...

via NWS Transport Services. In the past,

Chow Tai Fook Enterprises Chow Tai Fook group is a Hong Kong–based, privately-owned conglomerate with holdings in the jewellery, property development, hotel, department store, transportation, energy, telecommunications, port, casino, and other businesses. Despite the ...

, parent company of NWS Holdings, owned 50% shares of NWS Transport Services until 2016. New World First Ferry and NWS Holdings are named after

New World Development New World Development Company Limited (NWD), is a Hong Kong-based company focused on property, hotels, infrastructure and services and department stores. It was established on 29 May 1970 by Cheng Yu-tung. The company is publicly listed on the ...

, the flagship listed company of Chow Tai Fook group. In May 2020, New World First Ferry was sold to Chinese government owned Chu Kong Shipping Enterprises. Chu Kong Shipping Enterprises is the parent company of

Chu Kong Passenger Transport Chu Kong Passenger Transport Co., Ltd. (CKPT; ) is a subsidiary of Chu Kong Shipping Enterprises (CKS) and operates ferry services between Hong Kong and cities in Guangdong province, China, as well as Macau. It is headquartered in the Chu Kong ...

, which offers inter-cities passenger liner, for cities of the

Pearl River Delta The Pearl River Delta Metropolitan Region (PRD; ; pt, Delta do Rio das Pérolas (DRP)) is the low-lying area surrounding the Pearl River estuary, where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea. Referred to as the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Ma ...

. Chu Kong is the alternative transliteration of Pearl River. Following the sale, formal registration of the change of company name to Sun Ferry Services Company Limited took effect on 7 January 2021 in Hong Kong's Companies Registry.

References

External links

* {{Hong Kong-Macau Water Transport Ferry transport in Hong Kong NWS Holdings 1999 establishments in Hong Kong Water taxis Shipping companies of Hong Kong