Asia/Pacific News
Hong Kong to Enforce China's 2019 ECA Regs
Hong Kong says it will enforce China's new emission control area (ECA) regulations in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), once they come into effect in 2019, Chinese media reports.
As Ship & Bunker has previously reported, on January 1, 2019 the regulation will require all ships operating within the waters of the PRD, Yangtze River Delta (YRD), and Bohai Bay regions, within 12 nautical miles of the Chinese coastline within the respective zones, to use a marine fuel with a sulfur content not exceeding 0.5 percent.
The Hong Kong and Macau special administrative regions (SARs) are exempt from the new rules, but Hong Kong now says it will enforce the rules within its waters.
"Hong Kong ... will collaborate with the relevant mainland authorities to put the ECA in place," said an EPD spokesperson.
Last year, on July 1, Hong Kong introduced a mandatory 0.5 percent cap on the sulfur content in marine fuel for ocean-going vessels at berth, except during the first hour after arrival and the last hour before departure.
China subsequently announced that from 2017 it will implement similar at-berth regulations on the mainland, although those new rules were brought into force from April 2016 for ports in the YRD, including Shanghai, as part of a voluntary option to begin the scheme early.
