Massive holiday crowds and immigration bottlenecks overwhelmed Hong Kong’s newly revamped Huanggang Port on Sunday, prompting authorities to issue their first “busy” alert just six days after the border crossing reopened.
The 24-hour land crossing between Hong Kong and mainland China, which reopened on October 12, logged over 130,000 passenger trips on Saturday as it kicked off its opening weekend alongside the three-day Chung Yeung Festival holiday, according to official data.
Outbound passenger traffic at the checkpoint was “exceptionally heavy” between 10am and 2pm on Sunday, logging more than 30,000 departures, according to the Immigration Department. The surge prompted officers to open all inspection counters and implement tidal crowd-control measures to ease congestion.
For the first time, the Hong Kong Security Bureau issued the “busy” advisory on its “Easy Boundary” platform for border clearance at Huanggang at about 1.45pm on Sunday, telling departing travellers to expect wait times of up to 45 minutes for border clearance. The status was updated back to “normal” by 3.30pm.