The Task Force on Supplies from the Mainland led by the Transport and Logistics Bureau (TLB) has been working closely with the Guangdong Provincial Government and the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government to explore various means to stabilise the supply of goods from the Mainland to Hong Kong.
A spokesperson for the TLB said that the "Sea Express" water transportation service from the Mainland to Hong Kong has been fully launched and its capacity is rising to increase the supplies of fresh food, other daily necessities and manufacturing materials. The current supply of fresh food from the Mainland is stable.
The spokesperson said today (October 17) that Shenzhen operated 150 cargo vessel trips and transported around 11 880 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cross-boundary supplies by water for the period from October 14 to yesterday (October 16), equivalent to about 57 610 tonnes of goods, of which around 10 TEUs (about 20 tonnes) were fresh food and around 11 870 TEUs (about 57 590 tonnes) were non-fresh food, according to information from the Mainland authorities.
Since the launch of services from the three ports in Shenzhen since February 18 to yesterday, a total of around 1 098 490 TEUs of cross-boundary supplies have been transported, equivalent to about 5 217 100 tonnes of goods, of which around 2 450 TEUs (about 20 610 tonnes) were fresh food and around 1 096 040 TEUs (about 5 196 490 tonnes) were non-fresh food.
Meanwhile, to avoid a spillover of the epidemic, the Transport Department (TD) arranges for dedicated staff to conduct rapid nucleic acid tests, using nasopharyngeal swabs for specimen collection, for cross-boundary goods vehicle drivers at various land boundary control points. Only drivers with a negative result are allowed to enter the Mainland. A total of 9 123 rapid nucleic acid tests were conducted for the period from October 14 to yesterday, among which four cases that tested preliminarily positive were found. The TD has passed the cases to the Department of Health for follow-up.
The TLB will closely monitor the situation and co-operate with the Mainland authorities to facilitate and implement various measures to ensure both smooth cross-boundary land transport and a stable goods supply to Hong Kong, while reducing the risk of epidemic transmission in both the Mainland and Hong Kong.
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