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 (July 25) that Shenzhen operated 139 cargo vessel trips and transported around 12 290 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cross-boundary supplies by water for the period from July 22 to yesterday (July 24), equivalent to about 53 820 tonnes of goods, of which around 10 TEUs (about 50 tonnes) were fresh food and around 12 280 TEUs (about 53 770 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 712 620 TEUs of cross-boundary supplies have been transported, equivalent to about 3 472 330 tonnes of goods, of which around 2 140 TEUs (about 18 370 tonnes) were fresh food and around 710 480 TEUs (about 3 453 960 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 9 088 rapid nucleic acid tests were conducted for the period from July 22 to yesterday, among which eight cases that tested preliminarily positive or indeterminate 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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