Hong Kong Conducts Second Cross-Boundary Large-Scale Stress Test at Huanggang Port Ahead of Opening

Second cross-boundary large-scale stress test conducted at Huanggang Port

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today (August 29) conducted the second cross-boundary stress test at the Huanggang Port with the relevant units of Shenzhen. The drill focused on testing the peak carrying capacity by further increasing passenger and vehicular flows to ensure comprehensive preparation for the opening of the port.

The drill marked the first test of the "joint one-stop" vehicle lanes for vehicle clearance. Automobile associations, associations, and chambers of commerce were invited to assist in recruiting private vehicles permitted to travel between the two places. The vehicles participated in cyclical trials with more than 1 000 vehicle trips made to test the operation and tuning of the lane systems and vehicular flow management. Participating vehicles were instructed to enter the port through the new connecting road in batches. They underwent risk assessment at the "customs front kiosks", and then entered the "joint one-stop" vehicle lanes for "five-party inspection" to complete clearance procedures for the Shenzhen General Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection, the Shenzhen Customs, as well as the Customs and Excise Department, the Department of Health and the Immigration Department of Hong Kong in one go, through the "integrated information collection devices" next to the lanes to complete the collection of body temperature, travel document data, facial features and fingerprints. The drill also simulated scenarios such as passengers disembarking and proceeding to the immigration clearance hall for on-board passengers to undergo passenger clearance procedures, as well as vehicles being selected at the "customs front kiosks" to proceed to the inspection area for inspection. Vehicles participating in the drill first departed and then returned to the Hong Kong Port Area via the Shenzhen side's vehicle clearance level for departure to conduct the cyclical trials.

To assess the port's capacity under sustained ultra-high passenger flow, over 20 000 civil servants from more than 70 bureaux and departments were mobilised. Participants were instructed to take various public transport to arrive at the port. They passed through the "collaborative inspection" automated channels or manual counters to depart from the Hong Kong Port Area. After returning from the Shenzhen side, they left the port by taking vehicles dispatched by public transport operators, undergoing cyclical trials involving more than 600 departures. The stress test also advanced the "crowd concentrated-flow test" by releasing large batches of people several times within a short period of time to create greater crowd pressure. This simulated a situation where a large number of arriving passengers arrive Hong Kong via the Huanggang Port during peak hours and take different public transport (including franchised buses, minibuses, cross-boundary coaches, and taxis) at the public transport interchange, thereby testing the management of passenger and vehicular flows, as well as co-ordination of supporting arrangements.

After that, the Fire Services Department conducted a fire drill, simulating an electric vehicle catching fire. Personnel from the Huanggang Fire Station fought the fire with water jets and used specialised equipment such as high-pressure fog applicators and fire blankets to extinguish the blaze. Ambulance personnel were also on-site to treat the injured.

The Secretary for Security, Mr Tang Ping-keung, inspected the drill on-site and held a meeting with participating departments immediately after the drill to review procedures and participants' feedback. Meetings will be arranged between the relevant Hong Kong and Shenzhen units to review and identify areas for improvement in the management of passenger and vehicular traffic, emergency response and collaborative mechanisms of the two places, so as to ensure the port's safe and smooth operation and a positive passenger experience to prepare for the opening of the port.

To further facilitate travel between Hong Kong and the Mainland for Hong Kong residents, both places will implement the arrangement that Hong Kong residents who hold both Mainland Travel Permits for Hong Kong and Macao Residents (including non-Chinese) (commonly known as the Home Visit Permit), and Hong Kong permanent identity card or Hong Kong non-permanent identity card, may choose to use either their Hong Kong identity card or Home Visit Permit at the first gate of the "collaborative inspection" automated channels, for completing immigration clearance procedures of both Hong Kong and Shenzhen, regardless of whether they are travelling "northbound" or "southbound".

Representatives from various bureaux, departments and organisations participated in the drill, including the Security Bureau, the Transport and Logistics Bureau, the Civil Service Bureau, the Hong Kong Police Force, the Transport Department, the Highways Department, the Immigration Department, the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department, the Department of Health, the Fire Services Department, the Architectural Services Department, the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, the Government Property Agency, the Digital Policy Office, the Office of the Communications Authority, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, the Civil Aid Service, the Auxiliary Medical Service, and various public transport operators.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today (August 29) conducted the second cross-boundary stress test at the Huanggang Port with the relevant units of Shenzhen. Photo shows passengers of private cars undergoing passenger clearance procedures at the immigration clearance hall for on-board passengers. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today (August 29) conducted the second cross-boundary stress test at the Huanggang Port with the relevant units of Shenzhen. Photo shows passengers of private cars disembarking and proceeding to the immigration clearance hall for on-board passengers to undergo passenger clearance procedures. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today (August 29) conducted the second cross-boundary stress test at the Huanggang Port with the relevant units of Shenzhen. Photo shows a participating vehicle entering the "joint one-stop" vehicle lanes for "five-party inspection", through the "integrated information collection devices" next to the lanes to complete the collection of body temperature, travel document data, facial features and fingerprints. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today (August 29) conducted the second cross-boundary stress test at the Huanggang Port with the relevant units of Shenzhen. The drill marked the first test of the "joint one-stop" vehicle lanes for vehicle clearance. Photo shows participating vehicles entering the port through the new connecting road in batches under instructions. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today (August 29) conducted the second cross-boundary stress test at the Huanggang Port with the relevant units of Shenzhen. Photo shows participants departing through manual counters at the departure hall. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today (August 29) conducted the second cross-boundary stress test at the Huanggang Port with the relevant units of Shenzhen. Photo shows participants departing through the "collaborative inspection" automated channels at the departure hall. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today (August 29) conducted the second cross-boundary stress test at the Huanggang Port with the relevant units of Shenzhen. Photo shows participants moving from the public transport interchange located on the second floor of the port building to the departure hall on the fifth floor. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today (August 29) conducted the second cross-boundary stress test at the Huanggang Port with the relevant units of Shenzhen. Photo shows civil servants from different departments taking different modes of public transport as instructed to reach the public transport interchange located on the second floor of the port building. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today (August 29) conducted the second cross-boundary stress test at the Huanggang Port with the relevant units of Shenzhen. Photo shows a vehicle being selected at the "customs front kiosks" to proceed to the inspection area for inspection, and a Customs detector dog assisting the inspection at the inspection area. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today (August 29) conducted the second cross-boundary stress test at the Huanggang Port with the relevant units of Shenzhen. Photo shows a vehicle being selected at the "customs front kiosks" to proceed to the inspection area for inspection. A Customs officer conducts further examination of a vehicle by using the Mobile X-Ray Vehicle Scanning Systems at the inspection area. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today (August 29) conducted the second cross-boundary stress test at the Huanggang Port with the relevant units of Shenzhen. Photo shows ambulance personnel simulating a medical treatment for an injured person during an electric vehicle fire rescue exercise by the Fire Services Department. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today (August 29) conducted the second cross-boundary stress test at the Huanggang Port with the relevant units of Shenzhen. Photo shows fire services personnel simulating a fire suppression with specialised equipment during an electric vehicle fire rescue exercise by the Fire Services Department. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today (August 29) conducted the second cross-boundary stress test at the Huanggang Port with the relevant units of Shenzhen. Photo shows participants taking public transport to leave the port and representatives from various public transport operators providing on-site guidance at the public transport interchange located on the second floor. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today (August 29) conducted the second cross-boundary stress test at the Huanggang Port with the relevant units of Shenzhen. Photo shows participants moving from the arrival hall on fourth floor to the public transport interchange on the second floor. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today (August 29) conducted the second cross-boundary stress test at the Huanggang Port with the relevant units of Shenzhen. Photo shows the Secretary for Security, Mr Tang Ping-keung (fourth right), accompanied by the Director of Immigration, Mr Benson Kwok (third right), inspecting the departure hall. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today (August 29) conducted the second cross-boundary stress test at the Huanggang Port with the relevant units of Shenzhen. Photo shows the Secretary for Security, Mr Tang Ping-keung (third left), accompanied by the Commissioner of Customs and Excise, Mr Chan Tsz-tat (second left) and the Director of Immigration, Mr Benson Kwok (fourth left), inspecting the operation of "joint one-stop" vehicle lanes. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today (August 29) conducted the second cross-boundary stress test at the Huanggang Port with the relevant units of Shenzhen. Photo shows the Secretary for Security, Mr Tang Ping-keung (sixth right), accompanied by the Commissioner of Customs and Excise, Mr Chan Tsz-tat (fourth right), inspecting the "joint one-stop" vehicle lane level. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Speech by Financial Secretary at Hong Kong Global Maritime Trade Summit - Closed-door Dialogue

Following is the speech by the Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, at the Hong Kong Global Maritime Trade Summit- Closed-door Dialogue today (November 15):

Mr John Denholm (Chairman of the International Chamber of Shipping), Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

Welcome to Hong Kong. I thank the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) for bringing this dialogue here for the third year, and all of you for joining us.

When this Summit met a year ago, forecasts pointed to the slowest growth in seaborne trade for years. This year, however, has turned out differently. Last month, the World Trade Organization (WTO) raised its forecast for merchandise trade growth in 2026 from 1.9 per cent to 3.9 per cent. Although crude oil exports from the Middle East fell by about a quarter in the first half of this year, global crude exports declined by only 6 per cent, as alternative suppliers, ports and corridors were identified.

That is a credit to this industry. Ships, ports and their agents and managers adapted faster than any plan could anticipate. Yet much of that adaptation was improvised, voyage by voyage and company by company. The changes now under way are too far-reaching to be managed in this way. The resilience we need has to be organised, and organised together.

A transition that is accelerating

Consider first the map of trade. Trade is becoming more regional, and Asia is leading the change. In the first 10 months of this year, trade between the Chinese Mainland and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) grew by 24per cent to about RMB 7.7 trillion. Around two thirds of this trade was in intermediate goods. They are components on their way to a factory, not products on their way to a shop. Supply chains are being re-aligned across borders rather than simply relocated.

Hong Kong sees this every day. Chinese Mainland companies are extending their production networks across Southeast Asia and the wider Global South, and many run their shipping, insurance and financing operations here in Hong Kong. Our own trade with ASEAN exceeded HK$1.8 trillion in the first nine months of this year, more than in any full year before. For the shipping industry, this means shorter voyages, more frequent calls and more transhipment. It also means that a port will be valued more for the connections and services it offers than the tonnage it handles.

At the same time, the green transition has also kept moving, even when regulation has paused. Negotiations on a global net-zero framework continue. Yet DNV (Det Norske Veritas), the Norwegian classification society, has recorded 364 orders for alternative-fuelled ships so far this year, 57per cent more than a year earlier. Owners clearly regard decarbonisation as a question of when and how, not whether. What they lack is certainty. DNV estimates that demand for low-emission fuels in 2030 could differ by a factor of more than five, depending on which rules are adopted. No producer can secure financing for a fuel plant when the market it would serve is that uncertain.

Hong Kong is doing what a port can do to narrow that uncertainty. Ships took on more than 382 000 tonnes of green maritime fuel, including LNG (liquefied natural gas), biodiesel and green methanol here since last year. The model we are determined to build is green fuel made in the Chinese Mainland, bunkered and traded in Hong Kong, and available to ships of every flag.

Artificial intelligence, meanwhile, is reshaping the maritime industry in two important ways. First, the cargo itself. The WTO estimates that chips, servers and other AI-related goods accounted for nearly half of the growth in the value of world merchandise trade in the first half of this year. Then, it is about how cargo is handled. The Chinese Mainland now has 60 automated terminals, more than any other country, and it aims for 90 by 2030. Yet a recent survey of the terminal industry professionals worldwide found that only 11per cent of respondents regularly measure what AI delivers, with poor data and unconnected systems among the main obstacles.

The constraint is less the algorithm than the data, and in shipping the data sits in many hands. That is why in Hong Kong, we have initiated a Port Community System (PCS). Since January this year, close to 10 000 enterprises have joined. Data entered into the system now serves the customs in both Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland. But every voyage has two ends, and data that stops at the edge of the harbour does only half its work. The UN Trade and Development has found that, among 85 developing economies with an international seaport, only about one in three has a system of this kind, and these are the very economies into which supply chains are now being extended. On this, I applaud the efforts of the IMO (International Maritime Organization) whose digitalisation strategy takes the right approach: not one system for every port, but interoperable systems that can work together. Hong Kong's system was built to connect, and we are exploring links with more ports in the Chinese Mainland and overseas.

Information that moves a container can also move credit. Under Project CargoX, led by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, 21 participating banks are now testing how such data, shared on a common digital platform with the owner's consent, can enable faster transaction verification than paper documents for credit assessment by the banks. In less than six months, some 10 trade finance loans have been secured on the strength of PCS's trusted cargo-flow data. The project is now being extended to cover ports in the Yangtze River Delta on the Mainland and Southeast Asia.

Building resilience together

Ladies and gentlemen, these three changes have one thing in common. Each crosses borders, and each is moving faster than the rules and relationships meant to manage it. That is the resilience gap we need to close, and I propose three ways to bridge it together.

First, we should keep our rules aligned. WTO economists estimate that a world divided into rival blocs would lose about 5per cent of its output, and that smaller and poorer economies would lose over three times as much as wealthy ones. In shipping the case is even more immediate, because a ship trades between jurisdictions for 25 years or more. We hope economies will resist protectionist measures, and will set their standards and settle their differences within global frameworks, above all at the International Maritime Organization, whose members will meet again in London in two weeks. An owner deciding which ship to order needs one answer, not several.

Second, we should turn goodwill between ports into partnerships. An IMO-backed study found that a container ship which knows in good time when its berth will be ready can save about 14per cent of its fuel on a voyage, and that begins with ports and ships exchanging a few timestamps in a common format. Partner ports can go further. They can recognise each other's standards for new fuels, so that a ship getting supplied at one end of a route can be supplied to the same standard at the other. They can alert each other early when a route is disrupted, and exchange people as well as data. Hong Kong has formed "partner port" relationships with San Antonio Port in Chile, and Dalian and Guangxi on the Mainland. We have also entered into "brother port" relationship with Shanghai last month, and will announce more partner ports this week.

Third, we should invest in people. New fuels and systems are only as safe as the crews who handle them. The BIMCO (Baltic and International Maritime Council) and the ICS estimate that the world fleet is already short of some 39 000 officers and will need about 114 000 more by 2030. Technology can be bought, but competence has to be trained, and recognised from one flag and one port to the next. Later today, the Hong Kong Maritime and Port Development Board and the ICS Academy will sign a Memorandum of Understanding to train multi-skilled maritime workforce for Hong Kong and beyond with the global standards.

Closing

Ladies and gentlemen, the ships being ordered this year will still be trading in 2050. They will outlast our terms of office and, I suspect, most of our forecasts. Whether they will sail in an open and orderly system depends less on any single economy than on the co-operation we form now, in rooms like this one. Hong Kong is determined to be a reliable partner in that endeavour.

This is a closed-door session, I hope you will speak frankly, so that we can learn from one another and strengthen the industry as a whole.

Thank you.

Speech by Financial Secretary at Hong Kong Global Maritime Trade Summit - Closed-door Dialogue Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases