[citation needed] The museum focuses on the development of boats, ships, maritime exploration and trade, and naval warfare.

While concentrating on the South China coast and its adjacent seas, its exhibits also cover global trends and provide an account of Hong Kong's maritime growth.

Another well-received exhibit was the 19th-century ink-painted scroll, Pacifying the South China Sea, which chronicled the naval activities of Bailing, Viceroy of the Two Guangs.

Many of the exhibits illustrated how China's overseas neighbours and Western trading nations together shaped the maritime history of Asia and the regions beyond.

By contrast, the modern gallery explored the historical factors and the Chinese entrepreneurship that contributed to the flourishing maritime industry in Hong Kong.

The South China Morning Post reported that the Hong Kong government partly financed the HK$115 million renovation project.

[citation needed] The display space at Pier 8 is more than five times larger than that of the Hong Kong Maritime Museum's first location.

However, the site's location on the outskirts of the Hong Kong Central business district, where establishments are largely closed at the weekend, has proved to have a negative effect on visitor numbers.

The scroll, which commemorates the defeat of a group of pirates who operated in the area around Guangdong in the mid-Jiaqing period (1796–1820), is prominently displayed in the new Sea Bandits Gallery.

These paintings had been transported to Rio de Janeiro in 1810 after they had been bought by or given to the lay secretary of the Papal Legate to the Portuguese Imperial court.

In addition to its many historic exhibits, the museum also has on display the windsurfing sailboard used by Hong Kong's Hayley Chan Hei Man (陳晞文) at the 2012 Olympic Games.

The galleries contain over 25 modern interactive screens to assist visitors; these interfaces contain a variety of media related to maritime history in Hong Kong and around the world.