Hai'an New Port. [Photo/gdzjdaily.com.cn]

Starting from Sept 1, Qiongzhou Strait ro-ro passenger ships have officially implemented liner service and a unified information system to sell tickets, so that travel time can be greatly shortened.

The implementation of liner service clarified the dispatching ships, the time of departure, the port of departure, and the port of arrival, greatly improving the experience of crossing the sea. The average travel time has been shortened by 30 minutes compared to 2018.

Hai'an New Port. [Photo/haianport.com]

At present, the Qiongzhou Strait ro-ro passenger ships offer four round-trip routes between Zhanjiang and Hainan: Haikou New Port to Hai'an Port, Haikou Xiuying Port to Hai'an Port, Haikou New Port to Hai'an New Port, and Haikou Xiuying Port to Hai'an New Port. In order to promote the implementation of the liner service, Guangdong province, Hainan province, and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region jointly developed an online ticket service system, which enables the purchase of the above four round-trip routes on the same platform.

The Qiongzhou Strait is one of the three major straits in China. It connects Hainan Island with the inland areas, and is also the busiest water transportation channel in the country.

According to statistics, about 90 percent of Hainan island’s incoming and outgoing daily supplies, as well as about 30 percent of its passengers, vehicles, and trains all need to travel through the Qiongzhou Strait. In 2018, passenger flow of the inter-provincial waterway transportation of the Qiongzhou Strait reached 15.06 million, and the vehicle flow was 3.28 million.

Staff of Hai'an New Port. [Photo/news.cnr.cn]