- The extension of the Air-Land Fresh Lane to Macao enables Cathay Cargo to import perishables using a similar process to imports via Zhuhai
- The expedited process has been adapted to meet Macao’s import requirements
- Cathay Cargo first shipment saw live blue lobsters transported from Hong Kong to Macao under one air waybill
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The Air-Land Fresh Lane enables the seamless import of perishables via Hong Kong to the Greater Bay Area (GBA) under a single air waybill. The process, which is expedited by a “transhipment certificate” issued by the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department, has now been extended to include Macao.
Speed and convenience for Macao perishables
Previously, the intermodal lane only entered the Chinese Mainland via a refrigerated customs checkpoint in Zhuhai having crossed the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. With the direct extension to Macao within the wider GBA, the process has been adapted to its local import requirements while retaining an expedited, seamless cold chain model, enabling consignees to receive goods in as little as four hours from touchdown in Hong Kong.
Towards the end of May, Cathay Cargo operated the Air-Land Fresh Lane to Macao for the first time with a shipment of live blue lobsters from Anglesey in Wales. The shipment was on one skid, weighed more than 220kg and went via the bridge to Macao from Hong Kong International Airport on a truck under a single air waybill.
Few road feeder service operators in Hong Kong are able to cross the bridge and enter Macao directly, so the goods were transferred between vehicles at a staging point at the border for onward delivery. The truck to Macao was also assigned a “flight number” for the single air waybill process.
Macao market opportunity
Macao’s population of 680,000 is dwarfed by the GBA’s 80-plus million people, but its premium tourism, retail, and casinos create an opportunity for shippers. “Macao has more than 40 five-star hotels, many with high-end international restaurants,” Head of Cargo Sales Hong Kong and the GBA, Frank Yau says. “I think these will create the natural consumption market for this new service.”
