It's 1.20pm and Lam Tai-hing, 29, is passing through the busy Shing Mun Tunnel, heading towards Fo Tan in his 16-year-old, 18-wheel Mitsubishi container truck. He has come from Tsing Yi and is making his third delivery of the day. He rose early this morning; his first job of the day began at 7.50am. There was no time for breakfast and he's not drunk any water since he started work. He prefers not to quench his thirst because, as every Hong Kong truck driver knows, it's hard to answer the call of nature when you've got a tight schedule to keep.
Lam's truck is more than 15 metres long and weighs 24 tonnes. Called a 'Big Mac' in haulage argot, it can carry two 20-foot containers or a fully loaded 40-foot container. Wearing a brown T-shirt and tatty cotton trousers, the short, stocky Lam has spent five years in the industry; his upper
arm muscles are well defined from working the steering wheel. Almost every day, he plies familiar routes between Hong Kong's main cargo port, Kwai Chung, and the industrial zones of Kwun Tong and Fo Tan.
The pay per trip is not high - HK$40 for each 20-foot container and HK$50 per 40-foot container. Like many drivers, Lam's income depends largely on how many trips he's able to make in a day. His basic salary is HK$5,000 and in a good month, he can earn as much as HK$17,000.
At 1.50pm, Lam reaches his destination: a nondescript parking lot in a narrow Fo Tan street. The entrance to the lot is small and Lam must employ a complicated manoeuvre to get in. It takes several minutes and repeated attempts, aided by a guide with a stick, who signals Lam by tapping the back of his truck.
On his return from Fo Tan, Lam is feeling pretty happy - he is making good time - until a small car swerves in front of him. 'Dangerous, so easy to cause a crash,' Lam mutters. 'These car drivers think they are smart and their vehicles are so agile, but heavy trucks usually must slow down quickly when cars suddenly cut into their lanes.'
As a driver of one of 12,000 registered container trucks in the city, Lam is fully aware of the dangers. In March, a container truck laden with raw plastic materials toppled onto a car on a slip road of the San Tin Highway, near the border. Three men in the flattened car died at the scene, while the truck driver was seriously injured. The driver has been charged with dangerous driving and overloading but the case has yet to go to court.