Hainan gets to grips with long queues at ports

Emergency measures taken to reduce wait times during Spring Festival rush

Since the beginning of this year's Spring Festival travel rush on Jan 26, the Qiongzhou Strait has teemed with ferries transporting vehicles between the provinces of Hainan and Guangdong, despite fog and wind occasionally posing challenges for the busy waterway.

To mitigate the long queues of vehicles leaving the island, Hainan has expanded parking spaces and increased the availability of ferry tickets, according to the Ministry of Transport.

During the first 10 days of the travel rush, 1,169,700 passengers and 273,100 vehicles have traveled the Qiongzhou Strait to and from the island, an annual increase of 31.8 percent and 17 percent, respectively, said Liu Peng, deputy director of the Hainan Provincial Department of Transport, at a news conference held on Monday.