Recently, when Guangzhou maritime law enforcement officers inspected the "MEGAH×××" at Nansha Grain Terminal, they found that the ship used high-sulfur oil on its way to Nansha from July 7 to 10. After testing, the sulfur content of the fuel used in this round is 2.71%m/m, which obviously exceeds the standard of 0.5%m/m/m.
From January 1, 2019, ships should use marine fuel with sulfur content not more than 0.5%m/m when entering the coastal control zone.
According to the "Implementation Plan of Ship Air Pollutant Emission Control Zone" issued by the Ministry of Transport last year (hereinafter referred to as the "Implementation Plan"), the scope of the control zone is extended to inland waters such as the national coast and the Yangtze River trunk line, and stricter control requirements are put forward in the use of low-sulfur oil and shore power.
Expand the scope of emission control areas
Relevant data show that the annual emissions of sulfur oxides from ships in China account for about 8% of the total emissions of sulfur oxides in China; The annual emissions of nitrogen oxides from ships account for about 10% of the total emissions of nitrogen oxides in China.
From the perspective of regional distribution, China’s ship air pollutant emissions are mainly concentrated in coastal port areas such as Bohai Rim, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta, as well as inland waters such as Yangtze River and Beijing-Hangzhou Canal. However, the main port cities in China are densely populated areas, so air pollution from ships is likely to have adverse effects on public health and the environment.
In 2015, the Ministry of Transport issued the Implementation Plan for Ship Emission Control Zones in Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta and Bohai Rim (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei) (hereinafter referred to as the "Emission Control Zone Plan"), which came into effect on January 1, 2016. This is the first time that China has set up a ship air pollutant emission control zone to control the emission of sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter from ships.
The establishment of a ship emission control zone is an important measure to implement the State Council’s Air Pollution Prevention Action Plan and the Air Pollution Prevention Law.
"In terms of sulfur oxide emissions per unit cargo volume, compared with diesel vehicles, water transportation is a clean mode of transportation, but it is also true that the emission control level of marine engines and fuel quality are relatively low." Dong Leyi, a researcher at the Dangerous Management and Pollution Prevention Department of the Maritime Safety Administration of the Ministry of Transport, told the reporter that the research results show that ship emissions are one of the important sources of air pollution in coastal areas along the Yangtze River, such as the Yangtze River, the Pearl River Delta, the Bohai Sea and the Yangtze River.
Geographically, the Emission Control Zone Plan does not fully cover key large ports and navigation-intensive waters. Dong Leyi believes that the "Implementation Plan" is an upgraded version of the "Emission Control Zone Plan", which further expands the geographical scope on the original basis. The scope of coastal control zones has expanded from the original Bohai Sea (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei), the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta to the coastal waters of the whole country; The inland river control area covers the navigable waters of the Yangtze River trunk line (from Shuifu in Yunnan to Liuhe Estuary in Jiangsu) and Xijiang trunk line (from Nanning in Guangxi to Zhaoqing in Guangdong).
From January 1, 2019, ships entering the coastal control zone should use marine fuel with sulfur content not greater than 0.5%m/m/m. The standard of marine fuel oil with sulfur content not more than 0.5%m/m, which was originally only used in three regional waters, was extended to the coastal areas of the country. In addition, the "Implementation Plan" has raised the standards for seagoing vessels to enter the river, requiring that seagoing vessels entering the inland river discharge control zone from January 1, 2020 should use marine fuel oil with sulfur content not greater than 0.1%m/m/m.
The "Implementation Plan" proposes that ships entering Hainan waters will use 0.1%m/m ultra-low sulfur oil from January 1, 2022; Newly rebuilt ships shall comply with the third-stage emission limit requirements of nitrogen oxides of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships.
Sulfur oxide emissions are 60% less than the same period of last year.
On July 15th, Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration seized the Panamanian transit cargo ship "LADY ME" using fuel with excessive sulfur content during sailing in the waters of the Yangtze River estuary, which became the first case in China in which the fuel with excessive sulfur content was used by a sailing ship, indicating that the maritime department initially had effective supervision ability over the sailing ships in the control area.
On July 23, Nanjing Maritime Safety Administration used the bridge-based ship exhaust telemetry station for the first time, and seized an illegal act that a ship in navigation did not use fuel according to regulations. This is also the first time in China that a ship in navigation did not use fuel according to regulations by using the bridge-based ship exhaust telemetry station.
Since the beginning of this year, the maritime department has strengthened the supervision of navigation ships in the control area, and used drones and bridge-based ship exhaust telemetry to investigate and deal with the illegal use of excessive fuel by ships.
In the past, the sulfur content of global fuel was controlled at 3.5%m/m, which means that 1 kg of fuel contained 35 grams of sulfur. Dong Leyi estimated an account: from 3.5%m/m to 0.5%m/m, the sulfur oxide emissions caused by the use of fuel oil by ships will be reduced by 7 times, and the shipping cost will increase by more than 6 billion yuan. If it is reduced from 3.5% to 0.1%, the cost will increase by 20 billion yuan.
Sun Wenjian, spokesman of the Ministry of Transport, pointed out at the regular press conference of the Ministry of Transport in July that by the end of 2018, the emissions of sulfur oxides from ships in the emission control zone had decreased by 160,000 tons compared with 2015, and the particulate matter had decreased by 17,000 tons. The air quality around the port continued to improve.
It is understood that after expanding the scope of the ship air pollution emission control zone this year, the ship will reduce emissions by 345,000 tons of sulfur oxides and 50,000 tons of particulate matter, a decrease of 60% compared with 2018.
Forcing ships to use shore power system
What is shore power? Dong Leyi told reporters that shore electricity is the electricity provided on shore. The use of shore power can reduce the pollution caused by the use of fuel for power generation by marine auxiliary machines.
In China, the promotion of shore power has been facing problems such as high cost, metering and charging, low return on investment and slow promotion pace.
Some experts pointed out that the introduction of the "Implementation Plan" will undoubtedly inject a shot in the arm for the popularization and application of shore power. Since then, the construction of shore power will enter a stage of great development.
According to the requirements of the Implementation Plan, China official ships, inland river ships (except tankers) and river-sea direct ships on specific routes built after January 1, 2019 should be equipped with ship-borne devices of shore power system. China-registered coastal navigation vessels of a certain type and scale, which started construction on January 1st, 2020, should be equipped with shipboard devices of shore power system.
From July 1, 2019, if a ship with shipborne equipment of shore power system is required to berth at a wharf berth with shore power supply capacity in the coastal control area for more than 3 hours, or berth at a wharf berth with shore power supply capacity in the inland river control area for more than 2 hours, and other equivalent measures are not used, the shore power shall be compulsory.
It is worth mentioning that the "Implementation Plan" also proposes that cruise ships will be required to take the lead in using shore power from January 1, 2021. Before the end of 2020, 9 of the 14 existing cruise berths in China will have the ability to provide shore power. At present, there are 16 cruise ships operating normally with China’s cruise port as the port of origin, all of which are foreign ships owned by overseas enterprises. In this regard, the "Implementation Plan" proposes the compulsory use of shore power to effectively enhance the effect of shore power use and effectively reduce the emission of atmospheric pollutants from ships.
Not long ago, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Finance, the National Development and Reform Commission, the National Energy Administration, the State Grid Corporation of China and the China Southern Power Grid Corporation issued a notice, requesting to further strengthen the coordinated promotion of the use of shore power for ships berthing in Hong Kong and promote the development of green transportation.
What kind of environmental benefits will the Implementation Plan bring? Dong Leyi believes that from the previous implementation of the ship emission control zones, various places have achieved remarkable emission reduction effects. According to estimates, in 2017, ships in the three emission control zones reduced their emissions by about 69,000 tons of sulfur dioxide and about 08,000 tons of particulate matter, accounting for 14% and 11% of the total emissions of ships in the control zones respectively. The "Implementation Plan" will also further improve environmental benefits. Compared with 2015, in 2019, ships will reduce sulfur dioxide emissions by about 600,000 tons and particulate matter by about 78,000 tons. (Reporter Liang Shibin)