The Government has pressed ahead with inter-departmental drills at the Huanggang Port Hong Kong Port Area, testing operational readiness across cross-boundary passenger clearance and vehicle inspection procedures.
Multiple departments, including the Police Force, the Immigration Department, the Customs & Excise Department, the Department of Health and the Government Property Agency took part in the exercises to ensure full preparedness ahead of the port’s commissioning.
During passenger clearance simulations at the departure hall, the Immigration Department tested contingency measures for a “Collaborative Inspection & Joint Clearance” automated channels breakdown that triggered heavy queuing.
In response, frontline staff redirected travellers to manual counters and co-ordinated with the Shenzhen General Station of Exit & Entry Frontier Inspection to set up temporary manual counters. Officers also deployed handheld devices to perform departure clearance for eligible Hong Kong residents, rapidly clearing the backup.
In separate passenger scenarios, immigration officers escorted a traveller who failed to pass through the automated channel to the duty room for identification document verification.
Similarly, at the arrival hall, officers guided a visitor denied entry into Hong Kong to the duty room for examination, before co-ordinating Customs inspection and escorting her back to Shenzhen.
Vehicle inspection drills at the vehicle departure hall involved the Customs & Excise Department, the Police Force, the Immigration Department, and other departments testing responses to multiple operational scenarios.
In one mock situation at the “Customs front kiosk”, a vehicle was scanned for its licence plate, and officers found that it lacked a valid Closed Road Permit. In another, a vehicle was stopped after passengers failed to disembark for Customs inspection, prompting Customs officers to direct the vehicle to an inspection area for follow-up.
Meanwhile, at the vehicle arrival hall, the Immigration Department simulated a system failure across the “joint one-stop” vehicle lanes. Officers smoothly transitioned to manual checks of identification documents and licence plates. Concurrently, the Department of Health deployed to the kiosk to execute manual temperature screening using handheld infrared scanners.