Asia/Pacific News
Penalty Notices Issued as China Enforces New Yangtze Delta ECA Regs: Reports
A new Emissions Control Area (ECA) in Chinese waters that came into effect less than two weeks ago is already being enforced, a notice issued Tuesday by the Standard Club has warned.
As previously reported by Ship & Bunker, the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) ECA came into force on April 1, 2016.
"As advised by the local correspondents, there have been few reported cases where Shanghai MSA has issued a penalty notice to ships that were unable to provide bunker delivery notes or failing to keep a fuel sample for at least 1 year until the fuel has been used up," said Standard Club.
"As for other ports within Yangtze River Delta, there is no further news from the authorities on the local requirements at this stage.
"Members are recommended to ensure that their vessels due for calling the ports of Shanghai, Ningbo-Zhoushan, Suzhou and Nantong comply with relevant requirements in order to avoid any issues or penalty."
The regulations were announced by China last year, with the three new ECAs covering the Pearl River Delta (PRD), Yangtze River Delta, and Bohai Bay regions.
They initially require all ships calling at the core ports within the new ECAs to use fuel with no more than a 0.5 percent sulfur content while at berth, except during the first hour after arrival and the last hour before departure.
While the new rules are mandatory from January 1, 2017, the YRD ECA began this month as authorities took an available option of starting the ECA early.
Updates and Clarifications
In addition to the above, updated information from the Shanghai MSA was said to clarify that "Berthing in Shanghai Port" is defined as "the period of time when the ship is firmly fastened to a bollard until all the cables of the ship are untied, which excludes anchoring and tying to buoys by the ship."
Further, the Standard Club says that ships can apply for an exemption from Shanghai MSA in the event that it is unsafe to use low sulfur fuel oil, with the company or local agents required to provide a completed application form and associated documents to the Shanghai MSA in order to receive the exemption.
Meanwhile, the Zhejiang MSA says it will respond to any violation to the new ECA requirement found within two months with warning education, as well as the requirement for correction of the ECA breaches.
It was noted that in all of the above affected ports, vessels can utilise alternative measures that are equivalent to using low sulfur bunkers, including shore power, "clean energy", and scrubbers.
In February, bunker traders in Shanghai said that they had seen little change within the local bunker market ahead of the new ECA regulations.
