Southern Finance reporter Zhang Xiaohui reported in Shenzhen

Early on weekday morning, a Hong Kong Metro East Railway Line slowly drove into Luohu Station, and Hong Kong citizens carrying small carts flocked out, and went against the Shenzhen office workers who were carrying backpacks to work in Hong Kong.

The hour hand turned back to the 1960s, and the "three express trains" carrying fresh food also drove from Luohu Bridge here to Hong Kong, bringing supplies from Shanghai, Wuhan and Zhengzhou to Hong Kong citizens.

Luohu Port, together with several other ports located on the Shenzhen-Hong Kong border, is like the annual rings on a big tree, engraved with traces of deep connection between Shenzhen and Hong Kong and the international community: the former border port has become a "super hub" with annual passenger flow exceeding 100 million; the "lifeline" of fresh products for Hong Kong has jumped to the "first landing point" where global capital, technology and data are whistled.

Looking back at the historical coordinates of the 45-year establishment of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, the number of Shenzhen ports has increased from two before the reform and opening up to 16 Class I ports now, achieving full coverage of sea, land and air; its functions are no longer limited to "portals" in the physical sense, but have become a "meter" for Shenzhen's institutional innovation, industrial leap and urban energy level improvement.

Chaoqi: Ports measure the new width of Shenzhen-Hong Kong integration

In 1950, a sign of "Shenzhen Inspection Station of the Border Defense Bureau of the Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department" was hung on a wooden house on the bank of the Shenzhen River. Not far away, Luohu Bridge, which is only more than 30 meters long, connects Shenzhen to Hong Kong on one end. It is a must-pass way for the two places to interact and witnesses the growth of Shenzhen from the beginning.

(The footbridge at Luohu Port in the 1980s; source/Shenzhen Customs)

At the beginning of the founding of New China, many scientists including Deng Jiaxian, Hua Luogeng, Guo Yonghuai entered the country from Luohu Bridge, laying the foundation for my country's scientific undertakings. Today, Luohu Bridge is no longer in use, but Luohu Port is still one of the ports with the largest inbound and exit customs clearance flow, and it is smooth for Hong Kong to communicate with the mainland. From January to July this year, more than 30 million inbound and exit passengers at Luohu Port.

Departing from Mong Kok, Hong Kong, it takes only an hour to get to the Luohu Port; not far away, there are many bus routes directly to Hong Kong; the Shenzhen Bay Bridge in the west is 2 kilometers in Shenzhen and 3.5 kilometers in Hong Kong. When it was completed in 2007, it was the only expressway bridge connected to Hong Kong among domestic highway trunk lines; the Sha Tau Kok Port in the east has begun reconstruction, and Sha Tau Kok, where "sunrise, sand head and moon hangs on the sea cape", is about to usher in a new life.

Every morning, Hong Kong citizens carrying small carts and backpacks can always be seen on the Shenzhen subway at China Unicom. Their consumption radius in Shenzhen extends from eating, drinking, shopping to travel, from dental clinics to all hospitals. Data from Luohu District People's Hospital shows that from January to July this year, the hospital received an average of about 4,500 Hong Kong patients per month, covering multiple departments such as dentistry, orthopedics, and traditional Chinese medicine.

The Shenzhen ports distributed with stars are beaded into chains, which not only serves as a bridge for the mainland and Hong Kong residents, but also opens up trade channels between the two places.

Zhang Yuge, director of the Hong Kong, Macao and Regional Development Institute of China (Shenzhen) Comprehensive Development Research Institute, mentioned that the port seems to be an infrastructure, but in fact it is the link between the two cities that establish a closer relationship. If the construction of the port can make the cross-border circulation of factors more efficient and effective, it will have a positive impact on the development of the two cities in Shenzhen and Hong Kong and the overall development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

In 2024, the average daily inbound and outbound passengers at land ports in Shenzhen and Hong Kong exceeded 600,000; on August 16 this year, this number soared to 1.02 million; the import and export trade volume of Shenzhen and Hong Kong rose from 70.17 billion yuan in 1997 to 701.48 billion yuan in 2024. Hong Kong has steadily become Shenzhen's second largest foreign trade partner, accounting for more than 150% of Shenzhen's total foreign trade volume.

The crowded customs clearance crowds and intensive trade exchanges tell the inseparable friendship between Shenzhen and Hong Kong. In the future, according to Shenzhen’s port upgrade strategy of “Strengthening the West - Advancing the Middle - Replenishing the East”, not only will old ports be renovated in batches, but the division of labor positioning of each port will also be further clarified, and the flow channels of people, money and property in Shenzhen and Hong Kong will surely be more unobstructed.

Breaking the ice: Shenzhen-Hong Kong two cities connect the rules and systems soft connection

In July 1979, the "first gun for opening the mountain" of Shekou Industrial Zone kicked off the prelude to Shenzhen's land reclamation and port construction, and also exploded the history of Shenzhen's industrial and Hong Kong's coordinated development.

Connecting with Hong Kong and building an open production base was the original mission of Shekou Industrial Zone. Above this, the more important significance of Shekou to Shenzhen and Hong Kong lies in the "Shekou model" it cultivates. In the following decades, Shenzhen and Hong Kong have continuously explored various possibilities of industrial docking, interoperability of rules, and factor connections, and these changes are often first arising from the junction of the port and the Shenzhen-Hong Kong border.

In 2010, Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone was established, connecting Hong Kong on one end and the "Golden Inner Bay" 100 kilometers around the Pearl River Estuary. It not only became the forefront of Shenzhen-Hong Kong cooperation, but also the main battlefield for Shenzhen's opening up to the outside world.

Foreign trade data shows that the total value of foreign trade imports and exports in Qianhai Shekou Free Trade Zone jumped from 71.2 billion yuan in 2015 to 537.98 billion yuan in 2024, achieving a 7.5-fold high growth; the cumulative use of foreign capital was US$38.157 billion, accounting for 47.1% of Shenzhen and 67.2% of Guangdong Free Trade Pilot Zone.

Over the past 15 years, Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong modern service industry has practiced the "Qianhai Model" that is consistent with the "Shekou Model". Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong DreamWorks, which has been established for 10 years, has incubated more than 1,000 Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and international entrepreneurial teams, cultivated and incubated 76 national high-tech enterprises and 18 specialized and new enterprises; since this year, Qianhai has successively implemented cross-border businesses such as the application scenario innovation center of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, cross-border payment service, Shenzhen-Hong Kong Data Center, Qianhai Medical Cross-border Data Space, etc., and is at the forefront of cross-border circulation of data, rules and other factors.

A modern industrial new city is erected on the Qianhai mudflat. Hetao, 20 kilometers away, has built a Shenzhen-Hong Kong science and technology innovation platform with "one river, two banks, one district and two parks".

In 2023, the "Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone Shenzhen Park Development Plan" issued by the State Council has once again stood in the spotlight of Shenzhen-Hong Kong science and technology innovation cooperation.

The Shenzhen-Hong Kong rules and institutional connectivity are "breaking the ice" here. Chen Furong's team at City University of Hong Kong successfully developed my country's first independent intellectual property high-spatial resolution transmission scanning electron microscope, setting a precedent for cross-border transfer of scientific research equipment in the Hetao Cooperation Zone; the first mainland branch of the Hong Kong Academy of Sciences has attracted more than 60 Hong Kong-funded enterprises and Hong Kong scientific research institutions to settle in; relying on the Shenzhen Data Exchange, Hetao has completed a total of 110 cross-border data transactions, with an amount of 334 million yuan.

At present, Shenzhen Bay and Huanggang Port are distributed around Qianhai and Hetao. At the same time, Hetao Port and Qianhai Port are also in full swing.

Luohu, which was the first to connect with Hong Kong and already has three ports, is also actively connecting with the planning of the northern Hong Kong metropolitan area and planning a port economic belt where industries are integrated.

According to the northern metropolitan area planning, Hong Kong will build port trade and industrial zones in areas covering three ports under Luohu, focusing on port economies such as commerce, finance, and retail, and emerging industries such as modern logistics and advanced manufacturing.

This coincides with Luohu's industrial planning. In 2023, Luohu proposed to create "three forces and three zones", one of which is an important goal is to "create a pilot zone for the integration of Shenzhen-Hong Kong with global resource allocation capabilities"; in terms of industrial planning, Luohu positioned strategic emerging industries such as artificial intelligence, life and health, and low-altitude economy as the "main track".

The B1 plot of "transit land" close to Luohu Port is produced by the Shenzhen River control and directing, and about 300,000 square meters of "general" industrial space is planned, with the goal of building a Shenzhen-Hong Kong life and health industrial park. Southern Finance learned that this land is currently in a "clean land" state and is in contact with some companies in the fields of life, health and artificial intelligence related to life, and will accurately focus on the frontier fields of life, health and build the preferred test site for cross-border applications of Shenzhen-Hong Kong AI.

Expand capacity: The sea, land and air channel is close to Shenzhen’s “circle of friends”

In 1988, Foxconn President Terry Gou came to Shenzhen for inspection and took commemorative photos at Luohu Port. Soon after, Foxconn established the first production base in the mainland in Shenzhen and became one of the earliest foreign-funded enterprises in Shenzhen.

Today, Shenzhen still attracts global capital to increase its holdings. In the first half of 2025, Shenzhen actually used 20.9 billion yuan of foreign capital, adding 5,581 new foreign-invested enterprises, ranking first among large and medium-sized cities in the country.

Ports not only become a window for foreign capital to understand and enter Shenzhen, but also a channel for Shenzhen to go out.

In 2024, Shenzhen returned to the "first city of foreign trade" in mainland China, exporting 2.81 trillion yuan, achieving 32 consecutive championships. Behind this, it is inseparable from the channel support of seaport ports such as Yantian Port and Shekou Port, Shenzhen Bay Highway Port and Bao'an International Airport Aviation Port. In 2024, the foreign trade cargo throughput of Shenzhen Port reached 250.97 million tons, accounting for nearly 80% of the total cargo throughput, ranking first in Guangdong Province.

Not only that, Shenzhen Port covering the three regions of sea, land and air has long broken through its infrastructure function as a "channel" and has become a powerful tool for Shenzhen to expand its "world circle of friends".

In Yantian Port in eastern Shenzhen, there are constant "super freighters" that can carry tens of thousands of standard containers. On average, four ships sail to Europe every day and six ships are shipped to the United States. From January to June this year, Yantian Port added 11 new routes, covering North America, Europe, Asia and other regions; every week, nearly 100 routes are connected to ports around the world from Yantian Port, directly to Australia on 11 days, and on the west coast of the United States in 13 days.

As one of the world's largest single container terminals, more than 40,000 standard containers are shipped from Yantian Port to all parts of the world every day. Shenzhen Customs data shows that in the first half of this year, the container throughput of Yantian Port exceeded 7.58 million TEUs, an increase of 12.7% year-on-year.

The sight changed from the ocean to the sky. In 1993, Shenzhen Airport passed the acceptance, and Shenzhen became the first city in the country to gather land, sea and air ports and be open in three-dimensionally. By 2024, Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport route network has covered 31 countries and regions on five continents around the world, with more than 800 inbound and outbound passenger flights per week.

(Shenzhen Bao'an Airport Customs Unmanned Cargo Station; Photo source/Shenzhen Customs)

Since the beginning of this year, Shenzhen has opened or encrypted international and regional routes such as Male, Dubai, Vientiane, Cambodia, and Mexico City. The air routes at Shenzhen Airport are getting denser and denser, which has also allowed Shenzhen’s “circle of friends” to expand outside.

It is worth mentioning that in the first half of this year, the passenger flow of Shenzhen Airport's Southeast Asia route exceeded 1.5 million, accounting for more than 50% of its international and regional passenger flow. With the official opening of the Shenzhen Siem Reap route, the route network of Shenzhen Airport can reach 8 countries, 16 cities and 17 destinations in Southeast Asia, with more than 200 flights departing every week, which further narrows Shenzhen's distance from its largest trading partner, ASEAN.

Data shows that from January to July 2025, Shenzhen Airport's multi-directional international and regional indicators hit a record high, among which more than 3.84 million people entered and left the Shenzhen Airport Port, an increase of 26.1% year-on-year; more than 23,000 passenger flights were in and out, an increase of 24.6% year-on-year; and the inbound and outbound freight volume was 592,000 tons, an increase of 14.9% year-on-year.

Whenever night falls, the international flights of Shenzhen Airport are rising and falling, and the high bridge cranes in Yantian Port are still dancing in the lights. The 45 special economic zones established in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, the sound of every footstep at the port and the sound of every container collision are refreshing the distance between Shenzhen and the world.

From the Luohu Bridge over 30 meters to the 5.5-kilometer Shenzhen Bay Cross-Sea Bridge, from handwritten customs declaration forms to instantaneous cross-border data clearance, Shenzhen, with dense ports, is becoming a "super center" for the gathering and circulation of global factors.