Police officers of Macao Special Administrative Region (L) and immigration inspection officers from Zhuhai check the joint automated inspection channels during a drill of clearance services at new Hengqin port in Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong Province, Aug. 17, 2020. Photo: Xinhua

A new port to facilitate travel between Macao and Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong Province, was officially put into use Tuesday, a new step to boost development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Dubbed a "super passage," the main working area of the Hengqin port has a total floor area of 450,000 square meters, equivalent to 63 football fields. It has a designed daily capacity of 222,000 passengers, which can help ease the pressure of Gongbei Port and increase the daily capacity for passenger flow between Guangdong and Macao from 750,000 to 900,000.

Gongbei Port has long been the main passenger channel between Zhuhai and Macao. In 2019, a total of 145 million passengers crossed the port, ranking first in China for eight consecutive years.

However, the Gongbei Port has been running far beyond its designed capacity, thus resulting in a series of issues such as prolonged queuing time and slow customs clearance procedures.