Zhuhai can offer key network link

Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge creates a direct link between Hong Kong International Airport and the tariff-free zone, as well as the airport in Zhuhai. Experts believe Zhuhai can make full use of the bridge by providing logistics and cargo distribution for Hong Kong products.

Alice Tsang, assistant principal economist for Greater China at the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, thought cargo from the mainland can be packed at Zhuhai airport before being delivered to Hong Kong International Airport via the HZMB.

Vice-versa, international goods arriving at Hong Kong International Airport can be sent directly to Zhuhai for Customs clearance and distribution, Tsang said.

This will not only help solve a chronic warehouse shortage at Hong Kong International Airport, but will relieve shippers of the high cost of labor in the city. The bridge offers Zhuhai with the opportunity to develop itself into an air cargo distribution and transit point, and attract more cargo to the west, she said.

Frank Yau Yik-kin, Cathay Pacific Cargo's head of cargo sales in Hong Kong, told China Daily that Zhuhai needs to equip itself with more support facilities and policies for handling cargo before there can be a fresh spurt of growth.

Certainly, it will take a while for the delta's industrial layout to change, but Zhuhai needs to start creating favorable conditions now, if that's going to happen, Yau said.

"In the long run, will companies set up new factories in the west? Will our clients transfer their production lines to the west? If Zhuhai has the capacity to pick up, it can attract goods from the west, and even those from the east as well. Rent and manpower costs in Shenzhen are no longer low for cargo storage and distribution," Yau remarked.

He noted that coordinated customs arrangements on the mainland are also required to make Zhuhai stand out.

Each Hong Kong airline has its own customized packaging pallet, each pallet with a tracking number. Freight is carried on these pallets before being loaded onto airplanes.

But, there's a problem. Empty pallets, called Unit Load Devices, are prohibited from export to the mainland. That means packaging is required to be done in Hong Kong, Yau said.

If this restriction was removed, some packaging and distribution work could be transferred to Zhuhai. The operational cost of air freight could be reduced substantially, while efficiency would increase, he said. This would consolidate Hong Kong's role as an aviation hub in the Bay Area, Yau added.

Some enterprises in Jiangmen, west of Zhuhai, use the airport in Guangzhou to ship foreign air freight, Yau said. Hong Kong airport has more international routes that could benefit those companies. Once distributors adapt to the new procedures, they may turn to Hong Kong in future, he said.

On Jan 10, Hong Kong's largest political party in the Legislative Council, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, submitted recommendations to the Hong Kong government on developing Zhuhai into a cross-border airfreight distribution center.

The suggestion was met with a positive response from Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Patrick Nip Tak-kuen. He pledged the Hong Kong government will proactively study these suggestions and seek agreement from the mainland to get things moving.