Beijing will unveil implementation details as early as mid-June for a policy allowing Hong Kong-registered yachts easier access to designated mainland ports in the Greater Bay Area.
The State Council is revamping maritime policies, exempting Hong Kong and Macau yachts from customs guarantees and simplifying registration in the Greater Bay Area.
The policy applies to yachts temporarily entering and leaving through designated ports in nine mainland cities: Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing, provided the vessels remain within the jurisdiction of those cities.
The Port of Nansha is among the designated maritime facilities and the only one in Guangzhou, although specific locations have yet to be disclosed. The Transport and Logistics Bureau said the new policies would enable individual yacht travel within the area, as they significantly reduced the financial burden on Hong Kong and Macau yacht owners and allowed them to obtain temporary certificates without affecting their original vessel registration.
The bay area is an ambitious scheme launched by Beijing in 2019 to link nine mainland cities with Hong Kong and Macau into an integrated economic powerhouse.
