How rope making tied Hong Kong and the Philippines together economically, with that country supplying a raw ingredient known as Manila hemp
- Shipping has been a major part of Hong Kong’s economy since its earliest days, with the provision of maritime services and goods, such as ropes, a key element
- The Manila hemp fibre used to make the best rope was sourced from the Philippines, as its name suggests, and twisted into cordage in automated factories
From Hong Kong’s mid-19th century urban beginning to the present day, shipping – and everything connected to trade and transport conducted by sea – has remained the city’s single most constant economic activity.
From shipbuilding and ship repair – and ship-breaking at the end of a vessel’s usefulness – to the provision of warehouses, wharves, dry docks and engine workshops, whatever was required by the maritime industry could be sourced somewhere in Hong Kong.
While many components used in shipping-related industries were imported and then installed in Hong Kong when a ship called into port – replacement machine parts and other precision-made equipment are obvious examples – much else was locally manufactured.
From the 1860s onwards, the annually rising volume of shipping that passed through local waters made the introduction of certain maritime-related industries more economically viable; in turn, newly established companies – and the extensive assortment of finished products that they made – eventually became significant local enterprises.
Everything associated with maritime life has one common connecting factor. From the largest aircraft carrier to the most modest sampan, one seemingly simple material is ubiquitous: rope.
Whether this is made from interlocking skeins of steel wires, closely twisted lengths of jute or abacá (also called Manila hemp), or nylon or other artificial fibres, everything from securing and mooring a vessel to the quayside to lashing sails to a mast must be done with some form of cordage.
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To meet the steadily rising demand, the Hongkong Rope Manufacturing Company was established in 1883 with a sizeable factory in Kennedy Town.
Cordage production was fully mechanised; the process of manufacture started with bales of imported raw fibre, which was passed through a sequence of spinning machines and bobbins where the fibre was initially twisted and formed.
Strengthened fibre strands were steadily incorporated into various degrees of thickness, and the finished rope cables were then wound onto wooden drums and measured out to a predetermined length, cut and bound and finally sewn into hessian sacking for transport.
Along with local sales, heavy-duty Hong Kong-made rope cables were exported regionally; from the early 20th century until the outbreak of the Pacific war, regional petroleum companies were major consumers, using them on oil rigs found from coastal Sumatra and Borneo to western Burma.
Manila hemp was the principal component of high-quality Hong Kong-made rope. This material is found within the leaf stems of Musa textilis, a close botanical relative of the common banana.
High tensile strength, flexibility and water-resistant properties make abacá fibre unsurpassed for top-quality marine cordage; synthetic fibres have never fully superseded this natural substance.
Manila hemp exports from the Philippines began in about 1818, as part of the worldwide economic boom that followed the end of the Napoleonic wars.
Initially small abacá fibre shipments to England and the United States gradually expanded in succeeding decades as this material became more widely known, and demand steadily grew.
First known as Manila ropes for the place they were originally manufactured, the name stuck and remains in common generic usage, wherever they may be actually produced nowadays.
Rope manufacture – along with sugar refining – thus offers an example of once-significant 19th century economic links between Hong Kong and the Philippines.
Close geographical proximity to the Philippines – where most abacá fibre production occurred – allied to Hong Kong’s high reliance on shipping, made the British colony a logical location for a rope-manufacturing industry to develop, both for export and domestic consumption.
Along with rope manufacture, abacá fibre has a surprising variety of other commercial uses; as the botanical name would suggest, certain textiles are also made from abacá – medriñaque fabric used for garments is one example.
Barong tagalog – the male national dress of the Philippines – is traditionally made from this material; cotton, silk, piña (pineapple fibre cloth) and synthetic materials are now commonplace.
