4 March 2026

China and Hong Kong have rapidly dismantled their Covid Zero regimes. In China the state-run “Communications Itinerary Card”, which tracks whether someone has been to a high-risk area based on their phone signal, when off line on Tuesday 13 December, according to an official WeChat post. A central part of China’s zero-Covid policy, millions of people were required to key in their phone numbers to produce its signature green arrow in order to travel between provinces or enter events. This decision comes just days after China announced an end to large-scale lockdowns, mandatory quarantine in central facilities, and a broad relaxation of testing measures, effectively retiring its zero-Covid strategy.

HFW’s yacht team is, as ever, busy dealing with a range of transactions, commercial disputes,regulatory matters and marine insurance claims,with our work reflecting the spread of issues and opportunities faced by the yachting industry at this time. In the same way, in this packed edition of Comprehensively Yachts, HFW’s yacht team brings you commentary on a range of important and topical issues currently impacting the yachting industry.

Dear APSA Members and Friends

Over 120 delegates attended the Gulf Superyacht Summit 2022 held in Dubai in early November. Previously known as The International Superyacht Summit the event was acquired by[Superyacht Times](https://www.superyachttimes.com/)in May 2022. The fourth edition of the Gulf Superyacht Summit in Dubai highlighted the interest in the growing GCC Superyacht market.Mike Derrett who is an advisor to the Sri Lanka based Sea Leisure Yachting Group (APSA member), attended and reported on the event.

Kaohsiung City, Taiwan is hosting a series of Christmas themed events that started on the 12 th November and continue onto January 2023. The Love River Bay has been turned into a combined ‘Light and Sound’ extravaganza that incorporates the Kaohsiung Pop Music Center complex, the harbour, and the Christmas market festivities.

The world’s largest trade exhibition of leisure marine equipment once again sprang to life with the welcome buzz of thousands of industry professionals gathering from across the globe for meetings, researching, networking and much-missed socialising. METSTRADE 2022 showcased a total of 1,400 exhibitors from 49 countries across 10 halls at Amsterdam RAI covering every facet of marine equipment, systems, and materials.

With Australian borders reopened, Superyachts 153° is offering cruising superyachts a streamlined process for accessing many of the stunning Marine Parks that dot the east coast of Australia. Superyacht 153 has worked with local authorities to formulate a simple system so that Captains can just ‘click and upload’ online forms that allow their yacht to access in some of the most unique places in Australia.

The second edition of the Thailand Charter Week, held from the 16 to19 November at Phuket Yacht Haven Marina. Organised by the Thai Yachting Business Association (TYBA), the event received the full support from the Thai Government.