Taikoo Dockyard

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A map in 1900s showing Taikoo Dockyard
A map in 1900s showing Taikoo Dockyard

Taikoo Dockyard (Chinese: 太古船塢) was a dockyard located in the present-day Taikoo Shing and part of Taikoo Place of Quarry Bay on the north shore of Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong.

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[edit] History

The foundation stone of Taikoo Dockyard that locales in Taikoo Shing now
The foundation stone of Taikoo Dockyard that locales in Taikoo Shing now

Beginning in Colonial Hong Kong, Whampoa Dockyard Company and "Taikoo Dockyard Engineering Company" were crucial for the economy. The dockyard was founded by Butterfield and Swire around 1902 to 1905. Together with the United Kingdom, these 2 docks in Hong Kong would build the largest ships in the world during that period of time[1]. Simultaneously, China had multiple dockyards such as Shanghai Dock & Engineering Company in 1906, Tung Hwa Shipbuilding Works in 1910 and the Shanghai Dockyards Ltd in 1937[1]. Though Hong Kong's dockyards always gave the British complete freedom in ship construction.

During the 1930s, Shanghai would experience difficult times through events such as Battle of Shanghai within the Second Sino-Japanese War. Hong Kong's Taikoo Dockyard would continue its own government training schools, which was later superseded by Hong Kong's Technical College.

By World War II, other countries finally began building larger ships than Hong Kong[1].

The Swire Group subsequently decided to use the land to develop a large private housing estate, Taikoo Shing. Closing in the early 1970s[2], the operation later merged with Whampoa Dockyard of Hutchison Whampoa to form a Hong Kong United Dockyard at the west coast of Tsing Yi Island.

[edit] Ships built

  • Po Yong 1941 for China Navigation Company
  • Shuntien 1934 for China Navigation Company
  • Taishan 1925 for Jardine Matheson Company
  • Whang Pu 1920 for China Navigation Company
  • Wuchang 1914 for China Navigation Company
  • Wusueh 1931 for China Navigation Company

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Allen, G.C. Donnithorne, Audrey G. [2003] (2003). Western Enterprise in Far Eastern Economic Development. Routledge. ISBN 0415312957.
  2. ^ Jones, Geoffrey. [2000] (2000). Merchants to Multinationals: British Trading Companies in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198294506
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