Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) has signed an agreement with Dongguan Port Group to establish a joint venture for the development of HKIA Dongguan Logistics Park, the world’s first sea-air intermodal transshipment connection between a logistics park and an airport’s airside.

The novel sea-air intermodal transshipment arrangement enables cargo security screening, palletisation and airline acceptance for export cargo from the Greater Bay Area (GBA) to be completed upstream in Dongguan in compliance with Hong Kong’s air cargo regulations before shipping the cargo by secured vessels to Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) for direct uplift to overseas destinations as transshipments. Vice versa, international shipments can be imported to the GBA via HKIA and the logistics park.

HKIA said the new transshipment arrangement is expected to save 50 percent of the cost and one-third of the processing time, compared to the existing model. To further improve efficiency and security, autonomous guided vehicles (AGV) and customised containers have also been introduced.

The agreement was signed on 25 October, and stakeholders expect the annual handling capacity of the model to reach over one million tonnes of cargo upon completion of the first phase of development which spans an area of 20 hectares.

To further improve efficiency and security, digitalised and highly automated facilities are introduced at the logistics park, which include Autonomous Guided Vehicles (AGV) and customised containers.

AAHK has established a wholly-owned subsidiary, for the planning, management and operation of the logistics park, in accordance with the agreement signed with Dongguan Port Group.