Update on supplies from Mainland
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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 (August 8) that Shenzhen operated 152 cargo vessel trips and transported around 16 580 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cross-boundary supplies by water for the period from August 5 to yesterday (August 7), equivalent to about 73 190 tonnes of goods, of which around 10 TEUs (about 60 tonnes) were fresh food and around 16 570 TEUs (about 73 130 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 783 760 TEUs of cross-boundary supplies have been transported, equivalent to about 3 784 480 tonnes of goods, of which around 2 220 TEUs (about 18 820 tonnes) were fresh food and around 781 540 TEUs (about 3 765 660 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 7 851 rapid nucleic acid tests were conducted for the period from August 5 to yesterday, among which 21 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.
Ends/Monday, August 8, 2022
Issued at HKT 18:00
Issued at HKT 18:00
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