On Chinese New Year's Eve, many Taiwan compatriots chose to take passenger ships back to their hometowns for the New Year, and direct cross-strait maritime passenger transport ushered in a peak in passenger flow. According to statistics from the Fujian maritime department, on Chinese New Year's Eve on February 9, the four cross-strait "mini three links" routes from Xiamen to Kinmen, Quanzhou to Kinmen, Mawei to Matsu, and Huangqi to Matsu operated a total of 12 flights, sending 1,213 passengers, nearly 16 times the number of passengers sent on Chinese New Year's Eve in 2023.
Since the launch of the Spring Festival in 2024, the number of Taiwan compatriots traveling between the two sides of the strait through the "mini three links" route has been rising, with a total of 300 flights and more than 530,000 passengers sent before the Spring Festival.
In order to ensure the safety of direct shipping between the two sides of the strait, the Fujian maritime affairs department has formulated a "one line and one policy" guarantee plan for the four "mini three links" routes, implemented electronic declaration and approval of ship entry ports, accepted ship entry and exit declarations around the clock, improved the efficiency of ship operation, and carried out comprehensive safety inspections on all passenger ships involved in operation in advance to ensure that ships are seaworthy and crew members are competent.
During the Spring Festival transportation period, the maritime department will continue to strengthen the safety supervision of direct shipping routes, and inspect shipping routes through ship sea patrols and unmanned aerial vehicle air patrols to ensure that the navigation routes are clean and smooth. The ship traffic management centers in Xiamen, Quanzhou, Fuzhou and other places carry out special window monitoring of direct passenger ships, pay close attention to meteorological and sea conditions and visibility changes, and provide early warning information in a timely manner to ensure the safety of direct navigation ships.