Chen Meibao: Multi-dimensional collaboration promotes transportation integration in the Greater Bay Area, leveraging Hong Kong's “super contact” advantage

Zhitong Finance App learned that at the October 15 Legislative Council meeting, the Secretary for Transport and Logistics of Hong Kong, Chen Meibao, made a concluding statement on “Actively Cooperating with the National Outline of the Fifteenth Five-Year Plan to Promote the Collaborative Development of Ports, Airports and Rail Transit in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area”. Focusing on the keyword “collaborative development,” she responded from three dimensions: internal collaboration between Hong Kong's ports, airports and rail transit; regional collaboration between Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area; and comprehensive access to the flow of people, goods, capital, and information.

Chen Meibao pointed out that this year marks the beginning of the national “15th Five-Year Plan”. The outline of the plan clearly supports Hong Kong in consolidating and enhancing its dual hub status as an international shipping center and international aviation hub, and supports cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao to promote the collaborative development of ports, airports and rail transit. The “Hong Kong First Five-Year Plan” takes the initiative to connect with this direction, and the Transport and Logistics Bureau has set a number of work goals in the three areas of sea, land, and air. She summarized the opinions of members of parliament into ten major areas, including coordination mechanisms, rule docking, standard certification, intelligent terminals, system innovation, transit hub status, air and rail transit, convenient customs clearance at ports, and new energy development.

In terms of collaborative development mechanisms, the Transport and Logistics Bureau plays a leading and coordinating role in transportation collaboration in the Greater Bay Area, and has established close, high-standard, and well-operated cooperation mechanisms with relevant departments in the Mainland.

Aviation sector: The Pearl River Delta Regional Air Traffic Management Planning and Implementation Task Force was jointly established by the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department and the Macau Civil Aviation Administration to explore the application of new technologies, new waterways, and make good use of the airspace resources of the Greater Bay Area.

Rail transit sector: The Hong Kong-Shenzhen Cross-border Rail Infrastructure Construction Course promoted two cross-border railway projects, with a project promotion office and legal team. The goal of the North Ring Road branch line is to reach an agreement with the MTR within the year, and the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Western Railway (Hung Shui Kiu to Qianhai) is targeted to be tendered next year.

Shipping sector: A special cooperation class was set up with the Guangdong Provincial Department of Transportation and the Provincial Development and Reform Commission to promote port collaboration and logistics information interconnection under the Guangdong-Hong Kong Cooperation Joint Conference mechanism.

In terms of innovative technology applications, the port community system is built by the government to use blockchain technology with one-stop real-time cargo tracking, intelligent analysis and reminder functions to deal with situations such as shipping delays, extreme weather, or port congestion. The system explores the use of artificial intelligence and big data analysis to make voyage adjustments based on real-time locations of global ships, port flow distribution, and storm formation. The system also collaborates with the Monetary Authority to assist in trade finance approval through cargo flow data, and explore connections with overseas and mainland ports and international shipping data platforms to play the role of Hong Kong as a “super contact” in logistics data.

Afterwards, Chen Meibao made key responses on aviation, shipping, and rail transit.

On the aviation side, the Airport Authority will further expand “flying via Zhuhai-Hong Kong” to provide passengers with a seamless connection between Hong Kong and Zhuhai airports. The transit service has already served more than 130,000 passengers. The first phase of the Dongguan Airport Center permanent facility has been completed in stages starting at the end of 2025. The goal is to be put into operation in the first half of next year. Combining mainland resources with international standards at Hong Kong International Airport, it reflects system innovation.

In terms of route development, the focus is on collaborating with the China Civil Aviation Administration to integrate into the country's “one circle, six corridors and five corridors” construction, with “trunk access, full connectivity” flight and transit facilitation services as the core, to enhance the efficient connection between mainland cities and global destinations. The first batch of all-flight routes is being prepared with the Airport Authority and airlines, and details are expected to be announced within the year.

“Air and rail intermodal transport” is reflected in two aspects: first, the West Kowloon High Speed Rail Station connects to nearby high-speed rail stations to facilitate passenger transfers through autonomous driving. The second is to use the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge to promote autonomous driving, carry passengers to and from Hong Kong International Airport and Zhuhai Port, and move towards commercialization of autonomous driving.

In terms of shipping, every effort has been made to address the development agenda of “stabilizing container volume, increasing value, and strengthening collaboration” established in the “Hong Kong First Five-Year Plan”.

Stable volume: Continue to cultivate “iron, sea, land and river” three-dimensional multimodal transport to support Hong Kong's joint construction of a “South China - South America” international cold chain logistics channel.

Adding value: From traditional “large tonnage ports” to “value ports”, upgrading to digitalization, greening and intelligence. A road map has been drawn up for the intelligent development of the Kwai Tsing Container Terminal. It is hoped that Hong Kong's first “green shipping corridor” will be announced in November or December this year, reflecting mainland production, Hong Kong filling and trading, and serving global ships.

Strong collaboration: Seize opportunities for collaborative development of the Greater Bay Area port cluster, take advantage of the “domestic and overseas” free port system dividends of Hong Kong ports and the advantages of international shipping networks, strengthen cooperation with regional ports such as Dongguan and Huizhou, revive Hong Kong's barge network, and facilitate river and sea transit.

The port community system has been connected to the Guangdong electronic port to provide a “one order, multiple reports” cargo declaration function and a pre-filling and forecasting function for shipping manifests. It is hoped that more mainland and overseas ports will use efficient customs clearance capabilities to give full play to the advantages of Hong Kong as a transit port.

In terms of cross-border rail transit, the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High Speed Rail Link connects more than 50,000 kilometers to the national high-speed rail network, reflecting the one-hour life circle in the Greater Bay Area. It will continue to expand the national high-speed rail network with the MTR Corporation and the National Railway Administration to connect with the Hong Kong West Kowloon High Speed Rail Station. The reconstructed Huanggang Port was opened this week. It is hoped that the branch line of the North Ring Road will connect to Huanggang Port and promote “hard connectivity” of rail infrastructure. After the opening of Huanggang Port, passengers can use the shuttle bus route to the Xintian Public Transport Interchange or Tsing Yi Station and then transfer to the Airport Express Line. The distribution of relevant information to travelers will be strengthened in the future.

In terms of “two inspections in one place,” relevant arrangements have been implemented at the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High Speed Rail West Kowloon Station, Shenzhen Bay Port, and the reconstructed Huanggang Port. Successful experiences will be summed up, and expanded “one place, two inspections” arrangements will be discussed with relevant mainland authorities in response to future cross-border traffic planning, public customs clearance needs and road hardware design around the project.

In terms of new energy development, in order to achieve the country's “double carbon” goal and Hong Kong's carbon neutrality commitment by 2050, Hong Kong companies will make good use of their international leading edge in the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) industry, build Hong Kong's SAF industry chain in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, promote the settlement of production bases in Dongguan, and soon have good news about Hong Kong's mixing facilities to achieve the full chain of production, mixing facilities and use.

In terms of shore power, promotion will be gradually strengthened to support terminal operators to install shore power equipment, accelerate terminal energy saving and emission reduction, and provide diversified carbon reduction options for ocean container ships. It will take into account the experience of the Port Fee Concessions Program for Green Marine Fuels launched in June this year to study economic incentives such as port fee relief to encourage ocean container ships with shore power connection capabilities to use shore power while docking at Kwai Tsing Container Terminal.

Chen Meibao stressed that the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is a major national development strategy, and Hong Kong plays the role of a “super contact” and a “super value-added person”. We will continue to implement the various tasks of the country's “Outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan” and “Hong Kong's First Five-Year Plan” based on the principles of active interaction, deepening collaboration, and pragmatic promotion. Next, the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong Maritime Week and the Super Terminal Expo International Aviation Conference will be held in mid-November; next year, we will successfully aim to host a large-scale railway and road conference in Hong Kong. In terms of standards, whether it is aviation fuel, green fuel for shipping, or even railway standards, they are moving towards benchmarking with national standards and applying these standards to the international market.