Sinking Jumbo Floating Restaurant sees many in HK upset over loss of city icon

The sinking of Jumbo Floating Restaurant has raised negative sentiments across social platforms due to water leaks in the restaurant's adjacent kitchen boat. 

According to local reports, the kitchen boat next to the seafood restaurant tiled severely due to water getting into the ship body, however its kitchen hasn’t sunk completely as it was held by the main boat. No emergency repair personnel was seen on site to fix the ship.

Media monitoring company CARMA’s analytics revealed that there has been an increase in both volume and negative sentiments after the boat sank, with more mentions using the keywords “珍寶海鮮舫” and “Jumbo Floating Restaurant” over the last 7 days. Moreover, there is also a huge jump in volume starting from 31 May 2022.

Charles Cheung, general manager of CARMA said: “The overall negative sentiment over the last 7 days was 17.8%, and it jumped to 24.7% over the last 24 hours. Most negative mentions came from sarcastic comments from netizens and disappointment from tourists.”

The sinking of the boat has raised awareness of heritage conservation, with many commenting that it is a pity that the iconic seafood boat is gone for good, some suggesting that the government could consider placing the seafood boat on land as an exhibit, enabling locals and tourists to revisit the boat.

Jumbo Floating Restaurant’s parent company Aberdeen Restaurant Enterprises said in a statement that there is no available dry dock for Jumbo Floating Restaurant in Hong Kong, and it is unable to carry out large-scale inspection and maintenance for the floating restaurant every three years.

As a result, it has decided to move Jumbo Floating Restaurant out of Hong Kong next month for inspection, maintenance and storage. The company also pointed out that it is now looking for suitable berths to reduce costs, as well as waiting for new operators and finding new ways to run the historic restaurant. 

"Aberdeen Restaurant Enterprises Limited, the parent company of Jumbo Floating Restaurant, had made every effort to donate Jumbo Floating Restaurant, at no cost, to any company or organisation interested to take over the operation. In November 2020, a positive response came when the government announced in the Policy Address that it had agreed to accept its offer to unconditionally donate Jumbo Floating Restaurant to Ocean Park as part of the Invigorating Island South project," the company said.

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