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18 Jan 2016 / Hong Kong

Establishment of Emission Control Areas in Chinese Coastal Waters

On 4 December 2015, the Ministry of Transport of China (MOT) announced the scheme to establish emission control areas (ECAs) in the three main coastal waters of Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta and Bohai Rim in order to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides and particulate matter from ships and to improve the air quality of the Mainland cities, in particular in the vicinity of the coastal and inland waters.

The main control measures of the scheme which will be implemented on and after 2016 in the ECAs are summarized below:
a. Starting from 1 January 2016, the existing requirements for control of emissions of nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides and particulate matter from ships as set out in the Annex VI of the MARPOL Convention and domestic regulations will be strictly enforced. Ports with favorable conditions within the ECAs may implement measures which are more stringent than the mandatory control measures, e.g. to require ships at berth to use fuel oil with sulphur content not exceeding 0.5% m/m;
b. Starting from 1 January 2017, ships shall switch to use fuel oil with sulphur content not exceeding 0.5% m/m while berthing (except for the first hour after arrival and the last hour prior to departure) in core ports inside the ECAs;
c. Starting from 1 January 2018, ships shall switch to use fuel oil with sulphur content not exceeding 0.5% m/m while berthing (except for the first hour after arrival and the last hour prior to departure) in all ports inside the ECAs;
d. Starting from 1 January 2019, ships enter ECAs shall use fuel oil with sulphur content not exceeding 0.5% m/m;
and
e. Ships may use shore power, clean fuel and exhaust gas treatment system as an alternative means to the above mentioned measures.

The scheme is applicable to ships which are sailing, anchoring or operating within the ECAs, but military vessels, sport boats and fishing vessels are excluded.

The announcement (in Chinese) can be found on MOT’s webpage at http://www.moc.gov.cn/zfxxgk/bzsdw/bhsj/201512/t20151204_1942434.html

Owners, masters and operators with ships operating in the designated ECAs in the Mainland should observe the new requirements.

(For information about operations in Hong Kong contact GAC Hong Kong at [email protected])

Source: Government of Hong Kong SAR Marine Department Notice No.10 of 2016 dated 15 January 2016

If quoting any content from Hot Port News, please cite GAC Hot Port News as the source.

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