China News Service, Shenzhen, October 12 (Reporter Suo Youwei) At 6:30 on October 12, the reconstructed Huanggang Port officially resumed operation. The first batch of passengers and vehicles passed through the inspection channel in an orderly manner, opening a new customs clearance mode.
As the largest single land port building in the world, the new port has innovatively implemented the "one place, two inspections" and "cooperative inspection, one release" customs clearance model. Passengers only need to queue once to complete the entry and exit procedures between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, and the overall customs clearance efficiency has been greatly improved.
Ms. Wong, a Hong Kong resident, became the first incoming passenger after the opening of the new port. She walked into the self-service channel for cooperative inspection under the guidance of the staff. After passing the document reading and biometric information verification, the gates were opened in sequence, and the whole process was smooth and completed in one go.
"In the past, when I entered the country through Huanggang Port, I had to go through two inspections in Shenzhen and Hong Kong. The queues and layered inspections were cumbersome. Today, I can complete the inspections in both places by queuing once, which is really much faster." Ms. Huang travels between Shenzhen and Hong Kong all year round due to work reasons, and she is deeply impressed by the difference in customs clearance experience between the old and new ports. She said frankly that after the opening of the new Huanggang Port, daily cross-border commuting can save a lot of time and the travel convenience will be greatly improved.
Huanggang Port welcomes the first batch of inbound passengers. Photo by reporter Suo Youwei
As the only passenger land port between Shenzhen and Hong Kong that implements 24-hour customs clearance, Huanggang Port continues to provide "non-closing" customs clearance services, fully covering cross-border traffic needs during special periods such as late night and early morning. The new port is positioned as a pure travel inspection port, eliminating cross-border cargo inspection facilities and focusing on improving the quality and efficiency of passenger transportation. It is designed to have a daily customs clearance flow of 200,000 people in the near future and 300,000 people in the future, which is enough to meet the current cross-border travel needs of Shenzhen and Hong Kong, and strive to create a new hub for cross-border traffic in the Bay Area.
According to staff from the Shenzhen Port Office, Huanggang Port has set up a total of 134 fast lanes for cooperative inspection and 68 manual lanes. The fast lanes support two modes of passage: card reading and facial recognition. Relying on the new customs clearance model, the inspection departments of Shenzhen and Hong Kong realize back-end information exchange and parallel review. Passengers do not need to queue up and check repeatedly. All entry and exit procedures for both places can be completed at one time in a single cooperative inspection channel, and the customs clearance process has been fundamentally optimized.
Vehicle inspections also achieve improved quality and speed. Photo by reporter Suo Youwei
Vehicle inspections also achieve improved quality and speed. Huanggang Port has set up a total of 28 "five-in-one" cooperative inspection channels for vehicles, integrating the supervision processes of five inspection units including Shenzhen Customs, Shenzhen Immigration Inspection, Hong Kong Customs, Hong Kong Department of Health, and Hong Kong Immigration Department. The smart all-in-one machine collects information such as vehicles, documents, and facial fingerprints at one time to achieve synchronized verification of data from five parties. The traditional secondary inspection process is optimized into "one stop, one inspection, and coordinated inspection and release" to solve the problem of repeated queuing and repeated getting off from the source.
On the morning of that day, Hong Kong cross-border bus driver Mr. Tam drove a dual-region vehicle into the designated lane and parked in the designated lane. He successfully cleared customs and entered the country in only about 3 minutes, becoming the first cross-border driver to enter the country.
Mr. Tan said: "In the past, vehicle customs clearance required two inspections from Hong Kong and Shenzhen, and many processes such as body temperature testing and document verification were required during the process. The whole process took 5 to 10 minutes, and I had to stop and wait multiple times. Now, only one stop is needed to complete the entire inspection process. The customs clearance time is shortened by more than half, which is much more efficient."
In order to ensure smooth customs clearance in the initial stage of the opening of the port, the Shenzhen Port Office proactively collaborated with relevant Shenzhen and Hong Kong units such as customs, immigration inspection, and the Hong Kong Immigration Department to establish a dynamic dispatching mechanism to flexibly adjust the number of open inspection channels based on real-time passenger and vehicle flow data to accurately match traffic needs. At the same time, full-time guidance personnel, convenience information desks and charity channels have been added to the port site to ensure efficient and convenient customs clearance for all types of groups.
Customs officers conduct supervision at the travel inspection channel at Xinhuanggang Port. Photo by Xing Chang
Customs supervision services have also been simultaneously improved and upgraded, making customs clearance "faster" while maintaining the bottom line of safety. Shenzhen Customs promotes innovation in inspection models and intelligent customs clearance, and scientifically arranges various customs clearance channels. The 67 cooperative inspection fast lanes and 34 manual lanes in the entry travel inspection hall and vehicle inspection hall are equipped with infrared temperature measurement and intelligent health declaration equipment. Inbound passengers can complete the customs health and quarantine process simultaneously with "one customs clearance". At the same time, the customs has also built a smart supervision system of "following the trend of supervision and senseless customs clearance", implemented modern facilities such as intelligent inspection stations and the country's first multi-view car machine inspection equipment, built a smart health quarantine workroom based on AI big data models, and a practical travel inspection platform based on digital modeling, etc., to achieve faster customs clearance without reducing quality, smoother and safer.
At the same time, Huanggang Border Inspection Station will rely on the new customs clearance model of "cooperative inspection, one-time release" and innovatively apply digital twin platforms and various intelligent inspection equipment to continue to optimize customs clearance services and improve inspection efficiency.
The new Huanggang Port is adjacent to the Loop Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone. The new opening of the port will build an efficient channel for cross-border scientific researchers, residents of the two cities, and business people, effectively accelerating the free flow of talent, information, economic and trade and other elements between Shenzhen and Hong Kong. The new port will connect the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Macao Science and Technology Innovation Corridor and link core functional areas such as the Shenzhen Bay Super Headquarters Base, Guangming Science City, and Shenzhen Baoan International Airport to help build a "half-hour scientific research circle" and "one-hour industrial circle."
According to reports, the passenger flow at the Xinhuanggang Port on the first day of opening was mainly cross-border commuting, visiting relatives and friends, and business trips. The overall passenger flow was stable and orderly distributed, and on-site customs clearance was in order. (over)
