By Jennifer Chang.    Photo：Dmitrii Eremin 

The economic and trade relationship between Hong Kong and China has always been mutually beneficial. With its advantageous location in the Greater Bay Area and extensive international aviation network, the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) has been the gateway to international cargo in the region, with about 75% of the international cargo in the Greater Bay Area transiting through HKIA to overseas. To better develop the economic and trade relations between the Greater Bay Area and Hong Kong, and to further enhance the time efficiency and cost effectiveness of the Greater Bay Area cargo transshipment service, the Airport Authority is developing a new intermodal cargo service through the construction of the Hong Kong International Airport Logistics Park in Dongguan and the addition of an airside sea-air intermodal cargo terminal at the airport.

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (the "Greater Bay Area") is a cluster of two special administrative regions, Hong Kong and Macau, and nine neighboring cities in Guangdong Province, namely Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Zhongshan, Dongguan, Zhaoqing, Huizhou and Jiangmen, and is the fourth largest bay area in the world after the New York metropolitan area, San Francisco Bay Area and Tokyo metropolitan area in Japan. The Airport Authority of Hong Kong plans to develop "air-sea cargo intermodal transport" between the Hong Kong Airport and the Greater Bay Area. Under the new intermodal model, export cargo from the Greater Bay Area can be pre-screened, boxed or palletized and received at the Hong Kong International Airport Logistics Park (HKILP) in Dongguan, and then transported via cargo vessels to the air-side sea-air intermodal cargo terminal in the HKIA control area (within 2.5 hours of the earliest vessel journey) in a manner that meets the security requirements of Hong Kong's air cargo. The cargo can be transshipped directly to the rest of the world without having to go through security procedures. Foreign air cargo can also be routed through Hong Kong to different provinces and cities in China by using the opposite route. The expected operating cost can be reduced by about 50% and the cargo handling time can be reduced by about one-third.

Cathay Pacific and the Hong Kong Airport Authority signed an air cargo service agreement in February this year and have set up an upstream bonded facility, the Dongguan Cathay Pacific Cargo Terminal, in Dongguan. Cathay Pacific Cargo Terminal Dongguan has become the first cargo terminal operator to receive export cargo in Dongguan. This is an important cooperation to realize the full upstream air-sea intermodal export air cargo handling between Mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area and Hong Kong. Looking forward, the scale of the pilot scheme will be expanded with more cargo terminal operators, airlines, and freight forwarders.  It is believed that with such cooperation, the economic and trade cooperation between the Greater Bay Area and Hong Kong will be further developed, bringing more opportunities and benefits.

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