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Written by: Huang Weilun
2020-08-26 08:00
Last update date: 2020-08-26 08:00The Liantang/Heung Yuen Wai Boundary Control Point was opened in phases today (26th). Affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, trucks will be allowed to pass through at 4 pm today, and citizens have not yet been able to pass through the new control point. Heung Yuen Wai Port is Hong Kong’s 7th land port on the border with Shenzhen. Currently, cross-border container trucks mainly travel between the two places through 4 of them. According to industry insiders, the new port will help divert trucks from Man Kam To and Sha Tau Kok ports, making it easier to reach Huizhou, Huiyang, and even Shantou and other places, but it is estimated that there are fewer cars driving at first. Others in the industry are worried that the buffer area of the new port is small. If other ports suspend cargo clearance in the future, they will mainly enter and exit through the Heung Yuen Wai port, which may cause congestion on the nearby Heung Yuen Wai Highway.
At present, cross-boundary trucks traveling between Shenzhen and Hong Kong mainly pass through four land control points, including Man Kam To Control Point, Shenzhen Bay Control Point, Sha Tau Kok Control Point and Lok Ma Chau Control Point. According to information from the Transport Department, in 2019, about 6.42 million trucks and container trucks entered and exited at the four ports, the most of which was the Lok Ma Chau port with 3.53 million vehicles, or about 55%.
The chairman of the Lok Ma Chau China-Hong Kong Freight Association, Jiang Zhiwei, said that it is estimated that only trucks heading to the east of Shenzhen will be switched to the Heung Yuen Wai port. It is believed that it will help divert the cross-border traffic at the two ports of Man Kam To and Sha Tau Kok. In Huizhou, Huiyang, Haifeng, Lufeng and even Shantou, there is no need to congest the roads in Shenzhen’s communities. However, if the destination is Humen or Panyu, the Lok Ma Chau port will continue to be used.
Chen Dishou, chairman of the Container Transport Workers Union, said that it is currently difficult to assess how many drivers have switched to the Xiangyuanwei port, but I believe it can divert the congestion at other ports, and the new port is also the fastest port to go north to Huizhou. However, he also said that Huanggang Port will be rebuilt in 2022. The Shenzhen Municipal Government has also discussed before that, in the future, the cargo inspection arrangements for the three ports of Huanggang, Shatoujiao and Wenjindu will be cancelled and the "East In and East Out" will be implemented. Entering and exiting through the Liantang Heung Yuen Wai Port, worried that the new port may not be able to fully absorb the cross-border trucks from the three ports. He also said that the buffer zone of the new port is relatively small. Once there is a lot of traffic passing through the border, the traffic may spread to the connected Xiangyuanwei Highway.
Cooperate with the "East In and East Out" cross-border transportation strategy to share the traffic flow of Lok Ma Chau, Sha Tau Kok and Man Kam To
According to a document submitted by the government to the Legislative Council earlier, the designed capacity of the Liantang Heung Yuen Wai Port can handle 30,000 passengers and 17,850 vehicles per day. According to Shenzhen’s cross-border transportation strategy of “east in and east out, west in and west out”, freight forwarders in the east are expected to pass through the Liantang Xiangyuanwei Port; in the west, the Shenzhen Bay Port will be used. According to the data in 2019, there are an average of 13,979 trucks and container trucks traveling between Hong Kong and Shenzhen via the three ports of Lok Ma Chau, Sha Tau Kok and Man Kam To every day. If the cargo function of these three ports is suspended, from a numerical point of view, Heung Yuen Wai has enough capacity for handling. However, the Heung Yuen Wai control point is dual-purpose for both passenger and cargo. The governments of Guangdong and Hong Kong also agreed to grant 2,000 and 200 "dual license" quotas for private cars in Hong Kong and the Mainland after the opening of the new port; in addition, additional crossovers will be issued. After the new port is fully opened, more vehicles may use the quota for border buses.
Project cost reached 33.7 billion yuan, double the original estimate
The Liantang Heung Yuen Wai Port will first be opened for cross-border trucks at 4 pm today. The initial cargo clearance time is from 7 am to 10 pm daily. Affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the government stated earlier that cross-border private cars, cross-border buses, cross-border taxis, and passenger customs clearance services have not yet been opened. Checking the data, the port was originally scheduled to be completed in 2018 and finally opened to traffic today; the cost has more than doubled from the original 16.2 billion yuan to 33.7 billion yuan.
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Trucks at Liantang Port