China has launched a public consultation process regarding legislation on pollution from the shipping sector as it faces growing pressure to resolve this burning issue.
China’s Ministry of Environment Protection issued a call for public feedback on Monday for what is yet to become the country’s first regulation specifically targeting emissions from the shipping sector, Xinhua reports.
According to the ministry, the shipping sector accounted for 8.4% of China’s SOx and 11.3% of NOx emissions in 2013.
Xiong Yuehui, an official with the ministry, said the regulation would be in line with the international standards and cover marine fuel oil quality and its usage.
China is the home of seven out of ten of the world’s busiest ports and does not require that container ships to meet the same air quality standards administered by many other ports around the world. Consequently, one container ship operating along the coast of China emits as much diesel pollution as 500,000 new Chinese trucks in a single day, the US Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) said in a report in October last year.
Since Chinese port cities are some of the most densely populated in the world and about 30 percent of the world’s containers pass through these ports, air pollution from ships and port activities likely contributes to much higher public health risks in China than in other port regions, NRDC said.
Hong Kong is the first to strictly enforce the use of low sulfur fuel by local vessels and plans to be the first in China to mandate ocean-going vessels to use low sulfur marine diesel.
Shenzhen has followed Hong Kong’s lead, by announcing a comprehensive list of ships and ports cleanup initiatives.
World Maritime News Staff