Han Ximin

ximhan@126.com

SHEKOU Cruise Homeport, the only maritime port that offers ferry services between the mainland and Hong Kong International Airport, has added three ferry trips a day since Sunday to meet the demand of students going or returning overseas to continue their studies.

According to the schedule, the ferries leave at 12 p.m., 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. every day. The ferries departing at 12 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. mainly serve students going overseas to study.

According to the operator, China Merchants Shekou Home Port Co. Ltd., travelers should arrive at the terminal for check-in service at least three hours before their flight departure at the Hong Kong airport.

Liu Ruiji, a student of The Pennsylvania State University in the U.S., who had one-year online classes at home in Shenzhen due to COVID-19, wanted to go back to the university for offline or in-person courses.

He completed the check-in service at the homeport early Sunday morning and took the flight from Hong Kong to New York later that day. He said the ferry service had solved his extreme urgency.

A total of 20,000 ferry tickets in August had been booked, according to Yang Yiqiong, vice manager of the homeport company. To meet the sharp demand of Chinese students who are returning to their schools overseas, the homeport worked with Hong Kong Airport Authority to install more check-in facilities and airline companies to enable passengers to complete check-in service before boarding the ferry. Six more airline companies have been invited to the homeport to offer pre-check in services.

Air Canada operates flights between Hong Kong and Vancouver and Toronto every week. According to its client manager Liu Ping, the flights take off at around 2 p.m. Passengers from Shenzhen can take ferries departing at 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. Around 3,300 students booked their tickets with Air Canada in August.

There are still some limited ferry tickets for departure before Saturday. The peak is expected to arrive between Saturday and Aug. 31.

In another development, passengers coming and returning to Shenzhen by air, rail, bus and ferry must go through temperature checks, provide health codes and trip codes and wear masks all the way, according to a notice released by Shenzhen’s transport bureau.

Those who come from medium- and high-risk areas must conduct nucleic acid tests upon arrival at one of the 106 designated sites across the city. They can log on to the WeChat account “深圳卫健委” (Shenzhen health commission) for these sites’ location, operating time and contact number.

The Metro and bus services in Shenzhen continue to implement COVID-19 prevention and control measures and reject yellow-code holders from entering. The authorities advised residents to avoid going to medium- and high-risk areas and avoid leaving the city unless necessary.