China Marine Safety Administration (MSA) issued a "Notice on Enhancing Supervision and Administration of [Emission Control Area] ECA", which outlines requirements for vessels calling ports in the Chinese ECA.
According to MSA's notice, ship operators travelling in the ECAs are required to keep detailed records of their fuel switching, three years' worth of fuel supply documents and one year of fuel samples. Vessels failing to keep documentation will be penalized RMB 2,000-10,000 (US$ 307-1,533). Ships burning marine fuel with more than 0.5pc sulphur face one or more of the following: warning, correction of breaches, detention and penalty of RMB 10,000-100,000 (US$ 1,533-15,330). Vessels are allowed to use shore power, LNG or emission exhaust scrubbers to meet to the ECA regulation.
Beginning on 1 April the main ports in the Yangtze river delta — Nantong, Ningbo, Shanghai, Zhoushan, and Suzhou — will require vessels to burn 0.5pc sulphur maximum marine fuels while at berth, down from 3.5pc sulphur. To meet the lower sulphur requirement, most shipowners will switch from burning high-sulphur residual fuel oil to marine gasoil. Vessels are given a grace period of one hour after arrival and one hour before departure. The Yangtze river main ports were not required to impose marine fuel sulphur restrictions until 1 January 2017, but they exercised their discretion to implement the restrictions sooner.
In November the Chinese Ministry of Transport set up ECAs that encompass three regions in China — the Bohai sea, the Yangtze river delta and the Perl river delta excluding Hong Kong and Macao.
Beginning on 1 January 2017 vessels at berth at the major ports of these ECAs will be required to burn 0.5pc sulphur maximum marine fuels. From 1 January 2018, the low-sulphur bunker rule will be expanded to the berths of all the ports in the ECAs. Starting on 1 January 2019 the regulations will be extended to 12 miles off the ECAs' coastlines and the grace period of one hour after and before arrival will be removed.
