China's major port adopts regulation to prevent shipping pollution

Qinhuangdao, China's largest coal shipping port, has adopted a regulation to prevent air emissions from ships, local authorities said.

The regulation, which has taken effect on December 1, stipulates that ships that emit "visible black smoke" for three minutes and above will be punished.

Meanwhile, incinerators are banned in ships off the waters of Qinhuangdao, the regulation said.

Priority will be given to the ships powered by fuel oil with sulfur content below 0.1% m/m in entry, load and unload, and departure of the port.

"As the port and the urban area are connected seamlessly, ship emissions have become one of the important sources of air pollution in the city of Qinhuangdao," said Wang Xinzhi, deputy director of Qinhuangdao Ecology and Environment Bureau.

The number of merchant ships in and out of Qinhuangdao has reached 14,000 so far in 2019. It is estimated that the 24-hour emission of PM2.5 pollutants by a medium-sized container ship is equivalent to the daily emission of 500,000 heavy trucks.