Hong Kong to receive icebreaker Xue Long 2 for first time in April; visit kicks off 5-day showcase of nation’s scientific achievements

The Xue Long 2 icebreaker will visit Hong Kong for the first time next month, with a range of activities slated across its five-day stay aimed at teaching the public about the nation’s achievements in polar scientific research.

Xue Long 2, the country’s first domestically built polar scientific research icebreaker, will arrive on April 8. A quota of 3,000 people can visit the vessel free of charge at the Ocean Terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui from April 9 to 12.

Visitors can apply for a slot via online registration that will put hopefuls through a balloting process due to the limited capacity on the ship. The registration process will open at 11am next Tuesday, and residents can do so through the mobile app uutix, according to organisers.

Professor Ho Kin-chung, founder of the Green Future Foundation Association and the Polar Research Institute of Hong Kong, both event organisers, said this was a significant year for Xue Long 2, as it completed China’s 40th Antarctic expedition and supported the construction of the Qinling Station in the Antarctica’s Ross Sea earlier this year.

“The significance of the visit is that Hong Kong is the first Chinese port it returns to when it comes home, which gives us Hongkongers a strong sense of identity,” Ho said.

“We, Hongkongers, are proud of the Xue Long 2, which is China’s contribution in Arctic and Antarctic research to the world,” he said, adding the visit by the icebreaker and the delegation would also facilitate scientific exchanges and help the city’s development into a maritime centre.