Logistics industry concerned about HKZMB logistics arrangement

The Macau logistics industry is skeptical about the benefits the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HKZMB) will bring to their sector.

Earlier, the Customs Service announced that the local government would build big-scale logistics facilities on the artificial island of the HKZMB linking to Macau. The project is still yet to go to public tender for its design and construction.

Kou Kun Pang, the chairman of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, told TDM that the new facility should include a frozen foods warehouse for food exports and imports.

“Trucks aren’t allowed to enter directly into Macau via the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge. So the products have to be driven further before reaching their final destination. Nobody wants their products to be stuck in the center for too long and they want them to be transferred once they arrive to Macau. How do we ensure that?” he asked. Kou also argued that it is of crucial importance to set up a onestop service that speeds up customs clearance, food safety inspections and cross border delivery.

Victor Lei, managing director of International Logistics and Forwarding Association of Macau, said he does not have any expectations about the bridge’s logistics arrangement, nor does he know anything about it.

“The handling of products and passengers is mixed on the bridge. How do we separate this? Aren’t we going to get sidestepped? We don’t get any updates because they never release any information after holding the so called closed-door meetings.”

In the past, the government said that the cross- border industrial zone would be an “unusual port”, and also claimed that the Hengqin port would be available 24 hours daily for the logistics industry.

In Lei’s opinion, both the cross-border industrial zone and the Hengqin Port have disappointed the logistics industry.

Regarding the HKZMB, it has been joked by the logistics industry to either be a Hong Kong-Zhuhai bridge or a Hong Kong-Macau bridge, since there is not a specific Zhuhai-Macau logistics channel.

Lei also believes that the bridge will not help to integrate Macau’s logistics industry into the Greater Bay Area’s development.