Press releases

Partners Hold a Reception in Hong Kong to Commemorate the Launch of an Asia Tour for One Earth –One Ocean’s SEEKUH, a Catamaran that is Cleaning Ocean’s Around the WorldHong Kong, 1 February 2018 – Li & Fung Limited (“Li & Fung”,” SEHK: 494), the world’s leading supply chain solutions partner for consumer brands and retailers, European body care brand “CD” (a beauty brand operated as part of its beauty business) and the Germany-based NGO One Earth – One Ocean (“OEOO”) today will host a reception at the Hong Kong Maritime Museum to raise awareness for the need for cleaner oceans and to celebrate the launch of the Asia tour of SEEKUH (“sea cow” in English), a catamaran invented and built by OEOO to collect and recycle plastic waste that litters the world’s oceans. The reception will be held for more than 100 employees, business partners and special guests who play an active role in environmental issues including leaders across commercial sectors and socially responsible organizations throughout Hong Kong.

A critical global environmental issue, every year millions of tons of plastic waste such as bottles and plastic bags are found in the ocean, all around the world. There is currently an estimated 140 million tons of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans and more than ten million tons of new plastic waste entering global waters every year. If left unaddressed, the pollution has an endurance of up to 600 years and can ultimately reach human kind’s food chain, endangering peoples’ health and viability over the long-term. In Hong Kong, as an iconic harbor city, a clean marine environment is essential as many citizens depend on water for navigation, recreation, seafood production and so on. Hong Kong has devoted considerable efforts to improving its water quality in recent years and ongoing attention on this issue is important to the environment and the city’s way of life.

To raise awareness of ocean preservation throughout Asia, OEOO has brought from Germany its new catamaran SEEKUH, the world’s first certified marine litter collecting ship, that will travel through Asia in 2018 showcasing its technology and the important work it is able to do in oceans around the globe. Hong Kong is the first stop in the Asia tour, followed by Singapore, Cambodia, the Philippines and more, and SEEKUH will be working to address the millions of pieces of plastic that are washed onto shores each year across Asia. SEEKUH was first launched in 2016 in Germany, after three years of fundraising, planning and construction and has so far tested its ocean cleaning capabilities in parts of Europe to great success.

Stefan Mulder, Vice President, Marketing at LF Beauty, said, “CD’s long-term partnership with OEOO is based on a shared passion for water and for protecting its purity for all future generations. As a body care brand, water is part of CD’s DNA. With pure, clean water an essential input to the creation of our beauty products, we understand its critical importance to the planet. We are excited to be supporting OEOO’s latest initiative to raise awareness for preserving and protecting the waters across the globe.”

“We are committed to sustainability overall and protecting the environment for future generations, which we try to do in many ways – through environmentally friendly business practices such as LEED-certified facilities and direct employee involvement in important causes such as recycling,” said Gerard Raymond, President of LF Beauty. “Importantly, as a global beauty company, we are well aware that for humans, consuming and using clean water is one of the best beauty treatments of all. We have a responsibility to help address and correct water quality issues and are pleased to be helping OEOO launch SEEKUH’s Asia Tour here in our home town of Hong Kong, with Victoria Harbor one of the most iconic waterways in the world.”

Gunther Bonin, Founder of OEOO, commented, “We are honored and proud to bring SEEKUH to Hong Kong, thanks largely to the tremendous support from CD and Li & Fung. SEEKUH is part of our global ‘marine litter cleanup’ initiative under which we are working to collect and recycle plastic waste in the ocean to help free the world’s waters from this terrible plight. We sincerely hope this SEEKUH tour will help increase environmental awareness and assist in positive change across the globe.”

To learn more about One Earth – One Ocean’s activities and the SEEKUH 2018 Asia tour, please visit http://oneearth-oneocean.com/en/.