ENG-2007 — Page 301

Transport 249

New Boundary Crossings under Construction or Planning

To meet the continuous growth in cross-boundary traffic, new road and rail crossings have been planned in coordination with the Mainland authorities.

The proposed Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB) will link Hong Kong direct with the Pearl River West. The governments of Guangdong Province, Hong Kong and Macao are actively carrying out the project's advance work. A study is being conducted on the design of the Hong Kong section of the HZMB, its related connecting infrastructure and a site for the Hong Kong boundary crossing facilities.

The Northern Link will connect the West Rail Line at Kam Sheung Road to the boundary crossing point at Lok Ma Chau, and together with the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line, will form a strategic corridor connecting the West Rail Line and the East Rail Line in the northern New Territories.

The Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link is expected to reduce the rail travel time between Guangzhou and Hong Kong from the present 100 minutes to less than 60 minutes. It will also link Hong Kong with Beijing and other major Mainland cities via the Beijing-Guangzhou Passenger Line and the Hangzhou-Fuzhou-Shenzhen Passenger Line. In addition, it will connect Hong Kong to cities in the Pan-Pearl River Delta via the Rapid Transit System now under development on the Mainland. The Government has decided that a dedicated corridor should be built for the Hong Kong Section and is now examining the proposed project.

Cross Boundary Ferries

Cross-boundary ferry services to about 12 Mainland ports and Macao are provided by seven operators at the Hong Kong-Macao Ferry Terminal in Sheung Wan, the China Ferry Terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui and the Tuen Mun Ferry Terminal. The number of cross-boundary travellers using these services to travel to and from Mainland ports totalled 6.7 million, and the number to and from Macao was 16.8 million in 2007.

The Port

Hong Kong set a record in its container throughput in 2007 by handling 23.9 million TEUS (20-foot equivalent units of containers), maintaining its status as the largest container port serving southern China and one of the busiest ports in the world.

Some 456 000 vessels arrived in and departed from Hong Kong during the year, carrying 243 million tonnes of cargo and about 25 million passengers. Most of these passengers commuted on a highly efficient fleet of high-speed ferries, including jetfoils and jet catamarans, to and from Macao and ports on the Mainland, making Hong Kong a port with one of the world's largest number of speed craft.

Hong Kong is a modern, well equipped deep-water port serving two main types of maritime transport - large ocean-going vessels from all parts of the world and the smaller, coastal and river trade vessels from the Pearl River. Hong Kong is the focal