Hong Kong: Green maritime fuel hub has moved a step closer

The first ship-to-ship liquefied natural gas bunkering operation in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was carried out on Feb 14 when a Shenzhen vessel pumped 2,200 metric tons of ultralow-temperature LNG in Hong Kong waters into a container ship bound for Turkiye.

It was a joint operation among China National Petroleum Corp and the HKSAR and Shenzhen authorities, marking a significant step forward in Hong Kong’s bid to build a high-quality green maritime fuel bunkering center.

Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan Mei-bo said the SAR will continue to cooperate with other cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and Chinese mainland provinces to consolidate Hong Kong’s edge in fuel supply.

Macao: Hengqin Port logs record single-day vehicle traffic

Hengqin Port — one of the busiest cross-boundary checkpoints between the Macao Special Administrative Region and Zhuhai in Guangdong province — saw a record 9,100 vehicle crossings on Feb 14, comprising 4,400 outbound and 4,700 inbound trips.

According to the Hengqin Border Inspection Station, Macao single-plated vehicles accounted for 66.5 percent of total traffic, or 6,100 trips, which was also a new record.

The average number of daily vehicle crossings at Hengqin Port had gone up from 5,200 trips in 2023 to 6,500 trips last year. The number has surged to 8,000 trips so far this year, indicating a 22.2-percent year-on-year increase, with Macao single-plated vehicles making up two-thirds of the total traffic volume.

Guangzhou: Pazhou terminal to provide regional quick-hop flights

A low-altitude flight operations center at Guangzhou’s Pazhou Ferry Terminal is due to begin operations in mid-2025, providing helicopter trips to Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in nine minutes and to Hong Kong International Airport in 26 minutes.

Upon completion, the facility is expected to operate 100 to 150 daily helicopter flights on routes linking the Guangdong provincial capital’s districts of Zengcheng, Conghua and Nansha, as well as intercity flights to Foshan, Dongguan, Jiangmen, Zhuhai, Shenzhen, and the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.

Shenzhen: HK startups in Qianhai get 500m-yuan backing

A fund with an initial investment of 500 million yuan ($68.7 million) was rolled out at the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Innovation and Entrepreneur Hub on Feb 16 to support Hong Kong startups in the Qianhai cooperation zone.

Geared to aid emerging sectors, including artificial intelligence, embodied intelligence, and life sciences, the capital is backed by the Qianhai Industry Investment Guidance Fund. Hony Capital’s Qianhai branch will manage the pool, while WeBank — a Shenzhen-based digital bank — will provide a proposed credit line of 500 million yuan for companies to access the cooperation zone’s favorable policies.

Zhuhai: Giant marine lifting vessel certified for service recently

A super-large marine lifting vessel recently completed its registration and certification with the help of the Zhuhai Maritime Safety Administration — the first of its kind to be deployed in the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin.

The multifunctional vessel can perform foundation construction work for large offshore wind turbines and install booster stations. It can also be used for various maritime engineering projects, such as offshore oil explorations and cross-sea bridges. During operations, it has a displacement of 110,000 metric tons, equivalent to that of a fully-loaded aircraft carrier.

Foshan: AI elevates city governance and digital transformation

Foshan has integrated the DeepSeek artificial intelligence system into its governance framework, jumping on the technological bandwagon.

The initiative marks a significant advancement in the city’s digital transformation drive, focusing on leveraging artificial intelligence technology to improve government operations.

Officials said they are committed to further integrating AI into public administration to support comprehensive digital development in various fields.

Huizhou: Shenzhen metro expansion to boost intercity travel

The Huizhou municipal government said the city has met the application terms for urban rail construction, with hopes that Shenzhen’s metro network could soon be extended to Huizhou to facilitate intercity travel.

Many people working in Shenzhen opt to live in Huizhou — about 70 kilometers north of Shenzhen — drawn by Huizhou’s lower living costs.

The transport department of Huizhou, which is fully included in the Shenzhen metropolitan area, submitted a plan on the feasibility of extending Shenzhen’s Metro Line 14 to Huizhou at a joint Shenzhen metropolitan area conference this year.

Dongguan: New AI tool to power materials science research

Dongguan’s Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, in collaboration with various national research institutions, has launched MatChat AI — a service platform aimed at helping researchers in materials science work.

Built on large language models and retrieval-augmented generation, MatChat extracts insights from more than 280,000 academic papers in physics, chemistry and materials science. The tool enables conversational access to a vast knowledge base, positioning itself as a “DeepSeek for materials science”.

MatChat’s responses are designed to be more professional, the responses are crafted with a focus on scientific inquiries, ensuring precise sourcing of information while maintaining an academic format.

Zhongshan: Housing provident fund loans for auctioned homes

Zhongshan residents can now use housing provident fund loans to buy properties sold at judicial auctions.

The new rule, implemented on Feb 14, is expected to ease the financial burden of homebuyers and better meet their housing needs.

According to the Zhongshan Housing Provident Fund Management Center, eligible individuals can apply for housing provident fund loans to purchase homes up for grabs at judicial auctions. The properties sold are required to have clear titles and not more than 10 years old. The loan amount granted would be based on the lower of the auction prices and the property’s appraised value.

Jiangmen: Programs worth billions to attract investment

Jiangmen rolled out industrial investment projects worth more than 200 billion yuan ($27.5 billion) last year, according to the city’s investment promotion department.

There were 38 projects with an investment value exceeding 1 billion yuan. The number of projects valued at over 100 million yuan increased 46.7 percent year-on-year to 631.

Jiangmen has stepped up its investment promotion drive to attract external businesses and help its enterprises to expand.

Zhaoqing: City’s projects drive energy storage growth forward

Zhaoqing High-Tech Industrial Development Zone moved closer to building a world-class energy storage cluster with the commissioning of two large projects on Feb 7.

The projects are a 1-billion-yuan ($137.4 million) plant for manufacturing battery storage containers, and a 2.3 billion yuan, 100-megawatt/400 megawatt-hours energy storage station. They’re expected to create an agglomeration effect with neighboring Ruiqing Contemporary Amperex Technology Co — a branch of Chinese mainland battery giant CATL, and inject momentum into Zhaoqing’s energy storage cluster.