Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge handles over 100 mln passenger trips since opening in 2018

The Zhuhai land port on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge in south China has handled over 100 million inbound and outbound passenger trips as of Tuesday, since the mega project opened to traffic in October 2018.

The 55-kilometer bridge linking Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macao Special Administrative Region and the city of Zhuhai, all in south China, is the world's longest bridge-and-tunnel sea crossing. It shortens the driving time from Hong Kong to Zhuhai and Macao from three hours to about 45 minutes.

According to the bridge's border inspection station, the mega bridge handled a record high of 31.34 million passenger trips in 2025, which is over 140 percent higher than that in 2019.

"For seven years, this bridge has been my child's road to school. From a little first grader to a junior high student now, my child travels between Hong Kong and Zhuhai every day and can make it home for dinner after school," said Mrs. Liu, a Hong Kong resident.

"I'm traveling from Zhuhai to our company's headquarters in Hong Kong for a business trip. This trip was arranged at the last minute yesterday, but this bridge enables me to go at any time. It's very convenient," said Ms. Pan, a traveler.

The bridge also handled 569,000 passenger trips by foreign nationals in 2025, up 28.7 percent year on year.

Behind the surge in passenger flow are tech-enabled services and optimized mechanisms at the border inspection station.

"The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge border inspection station has kept improving the entry-exit environment, with artificial intelligence algorithms, big data systems, mobile inspection terminals and other high-tech hardware and software facilities introduced. We have launched tech-enabled and personalized services such as face recognition fast passage through smart channels and online filling of foreigners' entry cards, constantly improving travelers' clearance experience," said Zhang Lei, deputy director of the border inspection station.

Thanks to the easy accessibility brought by the operation of the bridge, a one-hour life circle is taking shape at an accelerated pace in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area city cluster. Meanwhile, its convenient and efficient services are facilitating integrated economic development in the region.

Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge handles over 100 mln passenger trips since opening in 2018

China has established the world's largest express delivery network in terms of scale and beneficiary population during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), with annual parcel delivery volume surging from tens of billions to hundreds of billions, according to data from the State Post Bureau.

Official data revealed that over the past five years, China's postal and courier service capacity has continuously improved. Annual business revenue grew from 1.1 trillion yuan (about 157.51 billion U.S. dollars) to 1.8 trillion yuan (about 257.74 billion U.S. dollars), with an average annual increase of over 10 percent, ranking among the top in the modern service sector.

Meanwhile, the annual parcel delivery volume rose from over 80 billion to nearly 200 billion items, with the per capita figure rising from 59 to 141.

"During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China built the world's largest delivery network in both scale and user coverage. The network has further expanded into rural areas, while the international network now reaches all major global economies. The share of express business revenue and volume in central and western regions increased by 5.4 and 7.5 percentage points, respectively, in the national total," said Liu Ying, spokeswoman for the State Post Bureau.

Over the past five years, the postal and courier industry in China has accelerated its shift toward intelligent operations. Most large-scale sorting centers now run automated systems, and technologies including cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) models are being widely deployed for demand forecasting, smart warehouse, and route planning.

China's postal and courier sector now leads the world in integrated transport efficiency, informatization and organizational capabilities, service coverage, and cost-effectiveness, cementing China's position at the forefront of global logistics.

China builds world's largest express delivery network