Shenzhen port to adopt 0.5% fuel sulphur regulation from October

The move by Shenzhen port follows other Chinese ports in the Yantze River Delta such as Shanghai, Ningbo-Zhoushan, Suzhou and Nantong, which are required to comply with the country’s own Emission Control Area (ECA) since 1 April 2016.

“Recently local authorities in Shenzhen made a similar decision and intend to adopt higher requirement on using low sulphur content fuel (not exceeding 0.5%) during ships berthing at Shenzhen port from 1 October 2016,” Huatai Insurance said in a note on 23 August.

“According to the information we obtained, in Pearl River Delta ECA, only at Shenzhen port such requirement will be implemented in advance, namely, from 1 October 2016; whilst at other key ports within Pearl River Delta ECA, such requirement will still be implemented from 1 January 2017 as per original schedule of China MSA (Maritime Safety Administration),” the note stated.

“As advised by Shenzhen MSA, they are now working out details on these requirements and plan to issue a formal notice in the end of this month.”

Shenzhen port has 10 berths that are equipped with shoreside power, or cold-ironing facilities, which ships can plug onto for electricity power and do away with the consumption of bunker fuel.

Internationally, the IMO is mulling a global sulphur content cap of 0.5% by 2020 or 2025, subject to a review in 2018. At present, a cap of 3.5% is being enforced.