Asia/Pacific News
China Extends Bunker Fuel Sulfur Cap on Yangtze River Delta
As of September 1, 2017, all ports in the Yangtze River Delta, China, have come under the 0.5% sulfur cap rule for bunker fuel which is already in place in some ports in the region.
The move by the Chinese authorities extends the cap to cover Nanjing, Hangzhou and Taizhou.
The area's main ports of Shanghai, Suzhou, Nantong and Ningbo-Zhousha where ships at berth must burn bunker fuel of 0.5% sulfur or switch to shore power already operate the scheme.
The extension was to be implemented from January 1 but the authorities brought it forward by four months to "further facilitate" the government's green shipping and emission reduction efforts, maritime news provider Lloyds List reported citing the ministry of transport.
Curtailing shipping emissions forms part of a wider initiative to tackle air pollution across China.
The central Chinese province of Hubei has approved an action plan to reduce pollution along the Yangtze, which is China's longest river.
According to the Xinhua news agency, the plan's three-to-five year timescale covers reforestation, recovering lake and wetland environments an cutting industrial pollution.
In addition, the Chinese government is looking to create a nationwide emissions permit system to cover all major industrial sectors by 2020.
As Ship & Bunker previously reported, China announced at the end of 2015 it would implement Asia's first ECA's.
