China to crack down on shipping emissions

In a bid to curb ship-related pollution, China is imposing stricter regulations on the use of harmful marine fuels used near many of the nation’s largest ports. 

Each year, more than 60 per cent of the world’s seaborne cargoes and 30 per cent of the world’s shipping containers pass through Chinese ports.

In addition, China is home to seven of the world’s largest ports, which are a leading cause of pollution in major cities including Shanghai, Hong Kong and Shenzhen.

Shipping emissions in East Asia accounted for 16 per cent of global shipping carbon dioxide in 2013, compared to only 4–7 per cent in 2002–2005.

An estimated 18,000 premature deaths in 2013 were caused air pollution from oceangoing ships.

In response, the government is enforcing stricter regulations on the use of highly polluting fuels near the country’s key ports.  

Last year, the Chinese government began to introduce a series of new regulations which force ships to use fuels with 0.5 per cent sulphur content – 80 per cent less than standard marine fuels – while at berth and near major Chinese ports.

The Domestic Emission Control Area (DECA) regulations mark an important step in curbing ship-related emissions and were initially implemented in Shanghai and three other ports in the Yangtze River Delta in April 2016.

By the beginning of 2017, the measures had been extended to eleven major ports in China.

Between April and November 2016, Shanghai’s enforcement agency inspected nearly 1,900 ships, caught 55 ships in violation of the restrictions and issued more than 690,000 yuan ($100,000) in penalties.

While China has enforced the regulations effectively, the nation can also learn from the European Union (EU), the U.S. and Hong Kong who have enforced marine sulphur regulations for years – especially as the regulations will be extended to cover all ships in the DECA waters out to 12 nautical miles by 2019, where International Maritime Law prohibits the stopping or boarding a foreign ship passing through a country’s territorial waters.

The EU has shown that measuring emissions remotely – rather than taking on-board fuel samples – can be successful following its two-year project.

The project examined the feasibility of remote measurement devices fitted on the shore, bridges, planes and drones to screen air emissions of a large number of ships in a short time.

The EU has also developed a database allowing Member States to record and exchange data from on-board sulphur inspections and to input remote measurement findings indicating non-compliance.

At the same time, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Canada are all piloting fuel testing systems that can estimate sulphur content in less than five minutes, meaning that regulators only have to send samples for testing when high sulphur levels are indicated – saving money and time, as well as justifying the detention of ships until the resulted are confirmed.

Elsewhere in Asia, the Singapore Cruise Centre’s (SCC) Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal (TMFT) announced earlier this year that it will become the Asia-Pacific region’s first solar-powered ferry terminal.

The new solar installation is projected to offset a minimum of 327 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year.

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