Just hours after the new Huanggang Port opened, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Security Tang Ping-keung and Secretary for Transport & Logistics Mable Chan briefed the media on contingency plans to manage surges during the upcoming Chung Yeung Festival long weekend and November’s APEC summit. A permanent Joint Operation Centre staffed by Police, Customs, Immigration and Transport officers has been established inside the control point to provide real-time crowd analytics and coordinated response. To prevent bottlenecks outside the boundary, a 200-vehicle transport buffer zone has been set up near the San Tin public-transport interchange. Franchised buses, coaches and taxis can be marshalled there and dispatched on demand, reducing the risk of road congestion spilling onto the North Loop Highway. Officials said 110,000 passengers crossed the new port in its first 12 hours of operation, with average clearance times of six minutes. The Immigration Department has the capacity to open an additional 50 automated gates during spikes and can redeploy 80 officers from other land checkpoints within 30 minutes. For employers moving staff or equipment across the border, the buffer zone offers a predictable staging point for corporate shuttles, while the joint-command setup provides a single hotline for incident escalation—a benefit during time-sensitive product-launch cycles. Mobility teams should, however, build extra time into travel schedules on 17 October (Chung Yeung) when daily volume is forecast to exceed 220,000. The Government said the Joint Operation Centre model would be reviewed after APEC, with lessons to inform traffic planning for the 2029 National Games, when Huanggang Port is expected to handle an unprecedented mix of athletes, officials and spectators.
Source: HKSAR Government Press Release
