The number of ferry operators, sailings and routes at Macau’s new Pac On ferry terminal – a facility scheduled to open within the current quarter – will be the same as that provided by the temporary Taipa ferry terminal operating next door to the new facility, according to the city’s Marine and Water Bureau.
Currently, the ferry companies operating at the temporary Taipa ferry terminal – located near the city’s airport – are TurboJet, Cotai Water Jet and Yuet Tung. They respectively move passengers between Macau, Hong Kong and Shenzhen.
Those three ferry operators will remain as service providers when the new Pac On ferry terminal comes into use, Marine and Water Bureau stated in response to GGRAsia’s enquiry.
The bureau has mentioned previously that the new terminal would be able to handle 400,000 passengers a day. The new terminal will include 16 berths for high-speed ferries, plus three berths for “multifunctional” use; it will also have the first commercial helipad in the Taipa-Cotai area.
But helicopter transport services will not be available at the “initial stage” of operation of the new Pac On ferry terminal, the bureau said.
The temporary Taipa ferry terminal, which first came into use in 2007, will be demolished following the operation of the new Pac On ferry terminal. This provisional infrastructure will be replaced by supporting facilities for the new ferry terminal, the bureau said.
The immigration service has registered a total of 957,631 visitor arrivals at the temporary Taipa ferry terminal for the first three months this year, up by 9.2 percent as compared to a year ago, according to data from the city’s Statistics and Census Service.
The temporary Taipa ferry terminal – with a limited number of sailings per hour – has handled a total of 11,393 ferry trips during the first two months this year, which is about one-third of the total ferry trips of the city, according to available data released by the census service.
