17th August 2026 – (Hong Kong) Hong Kong will put the new Huanggang Port through a 10,000-person pressure test this Saturday, as Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung pledged to open the crossing as soon as it is ready — but not by cutting corners on passenger experience.
Speaking on a radio programme, Mr Tang said about 50 drills have already been run, drawing some 6,000 civil servants into operations and stress exercises on the Hong Kong side. On Saturday 22nd August the government plans to mobilise 10,000 civil servants and hopes to bring in about 1,000 vehicles. Asked for a firm opening date, he said manpower is not the bottleneck; the pace of tuning the automated gates matters most, with the aim to “open as soon as it is ready”. Meeting reporters afterwards, he added that officials “will not rush for speed” and open while unprepared, only to leave travellers with a worse experience.
Earlier rehearsals stepped up quickly. On 13th August about 1,000 staff from more than 20 departments tested the joint inspection building, public transport interchange, wayfinding and overall crowd and traffic control. On 15th August some 5,000 people took part in the first drill with a heavy stress element, simulating surges of travellers, vehicle clearance, Customs checks and Department of Health quarantine work, plus sudden scenarios such as a passenger taken ill, a serious traffic crash with a vehicle overturning, and a cross-department counter-terrorism exercise.
Because the real clearance gates are not yet live, drills so far use a “20 seconds per person” stand-in to gauge passenger and vehicle capacity. The port has 202 self-service gates; engineers are installing and debugging computer systems round the clock, with each machine taking about two to three hours. Once the gates are fitted, Hong Kong and Shenzhen will hold at least one joint drill to test the co-location model of co-operative inspection and single release in real conditions. Lessons from the first two big days already include signs set too low or too unclear, possible jams at the transport interchange and too few seats inside the building — points departments began fixing overnight with clearer signage, traffic direction and adjusted vehicle queue timing.
Mr Tang noted that the existing Huanggang Port once peaked at 7,700 travellers an hour. Saturday’s 10,000-person run will sit about 20 per cent above that historic high, while a future 20,000-person exercise is meant as an extreme stress case. If operations stay smooth under that load, he said, confidence for holiday peaks will be strong. The Saturday drill will also play out travellers with fever or dangerous goods, and the media are expected to be invited to watch. Extra staff have been drawn from other crossings, with retired civil servants and temporary helpers guiding passengers; more counters do not require a matching jump in headcount as technology advances, and the temporary boost is mainly to steady the opening transition.
Pressed on whether the port can open before the National Day golden week, Mr Tang said Hong Kong and Shenzhen share the goal of opening soon, but only “responsibly and as soon as possible”, with safe, smooth flows and a decent passenger experience. Gate calibration still needs specialist engineers and takes time, so it is not yet certain the machines can be used for live testing on the 22nd; forcing them into service before they accurately show real throughput, he said, would mean little, and drills may again fall back on simulation if needed.