With a new checkpoint linking Shenzhen opening on Wednesday, Hong Kong will be able to tap more opportunities in the enormous markets of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

The Liantang Port/Heung Yuen Wai Boundary Control Point, the seventh land-based port at the Hong Kong-Shenzhen boundary, started opening to cargo trucks at 4:00 p.m. local time Wednesday.

The new checkpoint also came as the first with direct access facilities for both passengers and vehicles.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said it will relieve the freight traffic pressure on cross-boundary checkpoints and facilitate the smooth and efficient logistics operation.

In the past, cargo vehicles headed for eastern Guangdong Province had to pass through busy districts before crossing the boundary. "The new crossing can ease the traffic at land-based ports ... and improve the clearance and services of Hong Kong ports in general," said Lu Pei-yu, senior engineer of the Civil Engineering and Development Department of the HKSAR government.

The government expects the new port to handle 17,850 vehicle trips and 30,000 passenger trips a day.

Chan Dik-sau, chairman of the Container Transportation Employees General Union, said the transport sector welcomes the operation of the new port. While the clearance for trucks requires complicated procedures and costs more time due to the epidemic, the new checkpoint put into use will help mitigate the situation, he said.

About four decades ago, there were only two land-based checkpoints at the Hong Kong-Shenzhen boundary, Lo Wu and Man Kam To. With increasingly closer ties between Hong Kong and the mainland, more have been built to speed up goods transport and passenger travels.

Tang Chi-wai was among the first drivers passing the new checkpoint on Wednesday afternoon. The man who has driven cargo trucks for 30 years said he was excited to witness the historical moment.

Decades ago, crossing the boundary for truck drivers was no easy job. But now not only are there multiple checkpoints to choose but the procedures of clearance have also become easier and faster.

As for Tang, checkpoints are also the evidence of coordinated development of Hong Kong and the mainland. Back in the 1990s, there was a wasteland on the Shenzhen side of the Man Kam To port, but now high-rise buildings are quite common in the city, he said.

The new land port, located in the area planned for innovation and technology sectors, will offer fresh opportunities for high-tech cooperation between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, Liang Haiming, a Hong Kong-based economist, said.

Liang believes that more convenient boundary-crossing travels will provide Hong Kong tech firms with broader development room.

At the opening ceremony of the new port, HKSAR Chief Executive Carrie Lam said in her speech that multiple major cross-boundary projects have been built in recent years, including a high-speed railway and a gigantic sea crossing, and more are still in the pipeline.

Those projects have shortened the distance between Hong Kong and the mainland, pushed forward the "one-hour living circle," and laid a solid foundation for the development of the Greater Bay Area, Lam said.

Analysts believe that Hong Kong, by further integrating into the Greater Bay Area development, can make full use of its advantages in education and professional services and make greater progress, which in return will bolster the Greater Bay Area as a robust growth point of the whole country.

Chinese authorities in February 2019 unveiled the development outline for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, aiming to build the region into a role model of high-quality development. The Greater Bay Area consists of Hong Kong, Macao and nine cities in Guangdong Province.