New port linking Macau, mainland opened to boost development of Greater Bay Area
Border inspection officials (left column) of Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, shake hands with Macau police officers at Hengqin port on August 17, 2020.
A new port to facilitate travel between Macau and Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong Province, was officially put into use on Tuesday, a new step to boost development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area.
Dubbed a "super passage," the main working area of the Hengqin port has a total floor area of 450,000 square meters, equivalent to 63 football fields. It has a designed daily capacity of 222,000 passengers, which can help ease the pressure of Gongbei Port and increase the daily capacity for passenger flow between Guangdong and Macau from 750,000 to 900,000.
Gongbei Port has long been the main passenger channel between Zhuhai and Macau. In 2019, a total of 145 million passengers crossed the port, ranking first in China for eight consecutive years.
However, the Gongbei Port has been running far beyond its designed capacity, thus resulting in a series of issues such as prolonged queuing time and slow customs clearance procedures.
