SPORTS> China
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SPORTS> China
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Express customs channel planned for all participants
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-07 13:27 Special customs clearance channels will be set up for the duration of the Universiade Shenzhen 2011, allowing for the speedy processing of athletes, delegation representatives and overseas journalists, according to the executive office of the grand sport event and port-of-entry office of the city. More than 20,000 foreign guests are expected to come to Shenzhen for the Universiade in August 2011, according to Liang Daoxing, director general of the executive office of the organizing committee for the Universiade Shenzhen 2011.
 The foreign visitors will include 13,000 athletes and more than 2,000 officials from the sporting bodies of around 180 countries and regions. An additional 5,000 foreign journalists are also expected in the city to provide global coverage of the event. According to Liang, many of these visitors are expected to arrive in Hong Kong and then pass through customs to enter Shenzhen and other places on the Chinese mainland. In order to better facilitate this unprecedented inflow of visitors, customs facilities in both Hong Kong and Shenzhen are gearing up to welcome their foreign visitors. The port-of-entry office in Shenzhen is set to increase its throughput capacity with the renovation of two former custom halls on the Huanggang and Wenjindu checkpoints. The facilities of another two new border crossing points, Shenzhen Bay Checkpoint and Futian Checkpoint, will also be upgraded before the launch of the event. Improved facilities are also being introduced at two old border points - Luohu and Shatoujiao.
Customs authorities are also committed to introducing a "Universiade Green Channel" for foreign guests at every border checkpoint, enabling them to pass through customs as quickly as possible. So far, there are eight customs links connecting Shenzhen and Hong Kong - Luohu, Wenjindu, Huanggang, Shenzhen Bay, Shatoujiao, Shekou, Fuyong Port and Futian, with Luohu, Wenjindu, Huanggang and Shatoujiao as the busiest routes. The Luohu customs house is the largest port of inspection for passengers throughout China and Asia in terms of its volume of passengers. It handles more than 45 percent of the traffic of inward and outward passenger's luggage and articles through the country each year. In 2004, the Luohu office supervised 89 million items of inward and outward passenger's luggage and accompaniments. It also handled some 55 million persons at the time of the return of Hong Kong in 1997. This represented a daily average of 246,000 people, with an all time high 396,000 on one particularly busy day.
Its business volume topped 10 million vehicles for the first time in 2004. It totally supervised 10.4 million inward and outward vehicles (including both passenger and freight transportation vehicles, among which 7.13 million were freight vehicles and 3.28 million passenger traffic vehicles). At its peak, the Huanggang customs house checks 35,000 vehicles and supervises 173,000 items of inward and outward passengers' luggage and articles every day. |
