Macao Dragon Company Limited, a ferry operator offering services between Hong Kong and Macao, abruptly ceased operations on Thursday.

The announcement immediately touched off an investigation into the heavy volume of ticket sales by the company just prior to the shutdown.

The company's liquidator, Lai Kar-yan, of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, said Macao Dragon will be investigated to ensure no fraud was committed before the company filed for bankruptcy.

The closure left 1,400 passengers stranded on Thursday alone.

Company staff are owed HK$1.5 million in salaries.

Lai estimated Macao Dragon had debts of more than HK$10 million.

The company in recent days had sold more than 150,000 cut-rate tickets through the group purchase websites, Groupon and BeeCrazy, and another 2,000 to 3,000 over the counter.

Several passengers who had bought more than 20 tickets via the Internet at one time did not learn about the company's closure until they were standing on the pier on Thursday.

Groupon promised full refunds to the customers who have not exchanged their coupons.

BeeCrazy issued a statement on Thursday afternoon, pledging all 64,000 coupons purchased through its website will be refundable. The company said it will contact customers by email.

However, there is not much that can be done for those who bought tickets over the counter.

The Consumer Council suggested those people claim compensation as ferry company creditors.

Staff owed back pay by the ferry operator will be given priority in meting out the company assets, Lai added.

Macao Dragon issued a statement on Wednesday night apologizing for the cessation of its services effective immediately.

The ferry company, one of the three offering ferry service between Hong Kong-Macao Ferry Terminal and Taipa Temporary Ferry Terminal in Macao, had offered four regular return trips daily.

Macao Dragon had undercut the fares of its two competitors.

Hong Kong Marine Department has contacted the other two ferry companies to make arrangements to help affected customers.

However, the department said no extra trips were needed for the time being.

In its statement, Macao Dragon noted the circumstance has made it "impossible to continue to operations".

The company blamed the Macau Maritime Administration for imposing a cap on its passenger capacity, forcing the company to carry only 600-750 passengers at one time with ferries that accommodate 1,152 at maximum.

In response to the charge, Director of the Macau Maritime Administration Wong Soi-man said the ferry terminal had a capacity of only 1,000 passengers at a time.

Macao Dragon commenced operations on July 10, 2010.

stushadow@chinadailyhk.com

China Daily

(HK Edition 09/16/2011 page1)