On the 30th of last month, Mr. Liao, a 55-year-old cross-border driver, died suddenly while waiting for customs clearance at the Huanggang Port Inspection Station. It was 31 hours after he set off from Hong Kong and was found dead. Waiting for a long time in the car, even the toilet, eating and sleeping must be solved in the car, which has attracted public attention.
"Hong Kong 01" directly attacked the simple task of cross-border driver Chen Wen sending the goods to the north and loading them back to Hong Kong. It also took 17 hours. He lamented, "If you don't have a good luck... If your life is not good, it's like a driver who is always squatting. There is no cure, no medicine left, and no way to seek help.” At the same time, it revealed two hidden dangers of epidemic prevention and the torment of cross-border drivers’ health.
Chen Wenzong (56 years old) has been working as a cross-border driver for 30 years, and continues to travel between the two places under the epidemic.
(Photo by Liang Weiquan)
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On March 14, the Shenzhen Port Office strengthened the closed-loop management of cross-border transportation between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, and implemented a centralized connection mode. Cross-border drivers must hand over the trucks to the mainland drivers at the port connection point to "drive" the goods to the warehouse; and A 24-hour nucleic acid test result certificate is required.
Epidemic prevention measures have made a trip to the north full of obstacles.
"It used to be 1 hour from the beginning to the end of the sun"
At 12:00 a.m. on the 24th of this month, Chen Wenzong (56 years old), who has been working as a cross-border driver for 30 years, drove a 38-ton empty cargo truck and set off from a bad open-air parking lot under the bridge of the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Western Highway and near Xia Village, and headed in the dark. Shenzhen carries electronic cargo.
He successively conducted "two tests" at the Lok Ma Chau Control Point in Hong Kong and the Huanggang Port in Shenzhen. It took 2 hours and 6 hours respectively. He got a negative report at about 8:30 in the morning, and waited for nearly 3 hours to arrive through Shenzhen Customs The port connection point, and then according to the "centralized connection" regulations, the truck is handed over to the mainland official "ferry driver", and then goes to another connection point to be handed over to the mainland "operating driver" (also known as a "jockey"), and drives to the Destination Phuket on delivery.
He waited at the port connecting point until 2:30 p.m., and another ferry driver handed over the truck. Chen Wen-shui returned to Hong Kong, and after unloading in Kowloon, he drove back to the Mai Po Long car park. It was nearly 5:30 p.m.
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Under Shenzhen's strict epidemic prevention regulations, a 17-hour trip is considered smooth in Chen Wensong's eyes. "Usually it's about 30 hours." There is no need to pick up and unload goods at both places, and no customs inspections are encountered, which saves a lot of money. I don't have much time, I just sighed that "it used to be 1 hour from start to finish".
Among them, he stayed in the car for 11 hours to wait for the nucleic acid test results and drove to the port connection point, "I believe it will take at most 15 minutes from 12:00 (am) to (11:00 am), because I have to do it on the ground. Nucleic acid, get back to the car after the nucleic acid is done, one is teaching, the other is degree, etc.”
Chen believes that the long waiting time causes physical and mental load on cross-boundary drivers.
"Mental stress is invisible. A normal person can't handle it for 20 hours. It's even worse when he is ill." What's more, it is 1 km away from the customs at Huanggang Port to the connection point. Sticking seals and banning people, "sometimes it gets dark and queuing up for ten or eight hours", "if the air-conditioning is bad, they will be baked to death", but violations may be suspended from cross-border work.
Working hours often lasted a whole day, and Chen Wensang brought emergency medicines such as water, food, and blood thinning pills. Well, it's like a driver who lives forever, with no medicine left, and no way to ask for help."
In order to avoid accidents during the waiting period, Chen Wen brought emergency medicines such as water, food and thin blood pills.
(Photo by Liang Weiquan)
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"Centralized connection" has two hidden dangers in epidemic prevention
Chen Wenzong agrees that epidemic prevention is important, but there are two major hidden dangers in "centralized connection".
He pointed out that there are often more than 100 drivers at the port connecting point, and the place is not designed for rest. death", coupled with poor toilet hygiene.
In addition, he is even more worried that the four drivers take turns sharing the narrow compartment, which is easy to spread the virus.
Chen pointed out that the epidemic prevention measures are too strict, and it is estimated that 90% of the workers are unemployed.
Cross-boundary drivers or cargo owners have to pay the "operating driver" fee, and even bear the maintenance fee of the crashed truck.
Shippers also refused to ship non-luxury goods due to the huge increase in cost, which reduced cross-border freight work; some people were worried that they would be overwhelmed and stopped working; race".
After Chen Wen returned to Mai Po Long, he ate salted fish and green vegetables for dinner in the parking lot with his co-workers. The co-workers even planted vegetables in the back column to save money.
At present, he needs a long rest after every transfer, and travels north 5 to 7 times a month. His monthly income is about 25,000 yuan, but the monthly license fee, parking lot, insurance between two places and other car maintenance costs total about 28,000 yuan, and he relies on savings. Post it backwards.
Most of the workers are "enough to pay the rent but not enough to eat, enough to eat but not enough to pay the rent", and going north "even if it is enough to keep a car".
Even drivers whose cars were impounded in the mainland had to continue to maintain their cars, "more miserable than the previous explosion of stock and property prices."
After Chen Wen returned to Mai Po Long, he ate salted fish and green vegetables for dinner in the parking lot with his co-workers. The co-workers even planted vegetables in the back column to reduce living expenses.
(Photo by Liang Weiquan)
Trade union: The government is arrogant to "optimize port connection arrangements", ignoring the demand for "direct mode"
Earlier, the government had planned to open temporary cargo connection points in Yuen Long and Futian to arrange for mainland drivers to come to Hong Kong to "drive" trucks to the mainland.
Chen Dishou, chairman of the Container Transport Industry Trade Unions Federation, said that the temporary cargo connection point is now nothing.
He said that the trade union has always been opposed to cross-border transportation in the connection mode, and also believes that the port connection point has the risk of cross-infection, and proposed a "direct mode", so that Hong Kong cross-border drivers can go directly to mainland destinations without landing, but the governments of the two places Ignoring the demands, instead proposed "optimizing port connection arrangements", the details of which have not been announced so far.
"We are all helpless. If we don't implement it, we have to give up cross-border transportation." At present, the trade union still insists on recommending the implementation of the "direct mode", and most of the cross-border drivers have been vaccinated with 3 or more doses of vaccines. " The risk is extremely low.” The government can conduct effective supervision through closed-circuit television and sticking seals on car doors, and can also effectively ensure that the virus will not be brought to the mainland and affect the health of mainland citizens.
A spokesman for the Transport Department said that the SAR Government fully understands the difficulties faced by Hong Kong cross-boundary goods vehicle drivers under the current all-connection model, and has reported the situation to the Mainland side, including the current Hong Kong cross-boundary goods vehicle drivers and those with Mainland drivers. docking arrangements, etc.
The SAR Government will continue to actively follow up with relevant Mainland authorities, with a view to improving the connection arrangements as soon as possible, ensuring smooth operations and enhancing the efficiency of cross-border land transport.
The SAR Government will continue to maintain close liaison with the cross-boundary freight industry, and actively explore with the Mainland authorities on solutions that can improve cross-boundary transport by land, including the industry's proposal to allow Hong Kong cross-boundary truck drivers to pick up their goods directly at the operating point and implement closed-loop management and improvement for them. The queuing arrangement at the port connection point to further reduce the risk of the spread of the epidemic and improve the operation of cross-boundary goods vehicle drivers.
One month of sudden death of cross-border driver｜The body was finally transported back to Hong Kong. Wife: I feel very grateful for the sudden death of the cross-border driver for one month. The mainland allows the body to return to Hong Kong at its discretion