New Huanggang checkpoint logs 79,500 first-day trips as transport chief says contingencies ready for long weekend

The newly redeveloped Huanggang Port border checkpoint between Hong Kong and Shenzhen saw 79,500 trips on its first day of operation, Shenzhen border authorities have said, as Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan said the port is prepared for its first real stress test during the coming Chung Yeung Festival long weekend.

Speaking on Metro Finance radio programme Finance Boulevard on Tuesday, Chan said that operations went smoothly the day before. The border crossing officially opened on Monday morning after six years of redevelopment, featuring the first joint clearance facility allowing passengers to go through Hong Kong and mainland immigration at the same time.

The transport chief said that previous stress tests have accounted for high traffic at the checkpoint, adding that authorities have already prepared contingencies for passenger levels expected during holidays.

Contingency plans

Huanggang Port is expected to face its first major test over the coming long weekend, with Monday being a public holiday for the Chung Yeung Festival. “During our trial runs, we prepared contingency plans for high passenger and vehicle traffic,” Chan said.

Chan’s remarks come after the facility logged 79,500 cross-boundary trips on its opening day, according to the Shenzhen General Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection.

Some 41,300 trips headed across the border into mainland China and 38,200 headed into Hong Kong, along with 8,000 vehicle trips, according to the Shenzhen border authority.

Chan said that the new port is accessible by several franchised bus and green minibus routes connecting to four bus interchanges and nine MTR stations across five lines. She also said that five short-haul cross-boundary bus routes now run from the public transport interchange.

The reconstructed checkpoint adopts a new “Collaborative Inspection and Joint Clearance” model.

This means passengers will only need to queue up once for document inspection and identity verification through either automated channels or at staffed counters, where Hong Kong and mainland officials will work side by side to complete both immigration procedures.

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James Lee is a reporter at Hong Kong Free Press with an interest in culture and social issues. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English and a minor in Journalism from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he witnessed the institution’s transformation over the course of the 2019 extradition bill protests and after the passing of the Beijing-imposed security law.

Since joining HKFP in 2023, he has covered local politics, the city’s housing crisis, as well as landmark court cases including the 47 democrats national security trial. He was previously a reporter at The Standard where he interviewed pro-establishment heavyweights and extensively covered the Covid-19 pandemic and Hong Kong’s political overhauls under the national security law.