China’s Ministry of Transport will inaugurate the Yangtze River Delta emission control area (ECA) from April 1.
Vessels berthing at ports in the area will be required using fuel of less than 0.5% sulphur content.
According to He Jianzhong, vice minister of Ministry of Transport, the compulsory ECA policy will be first implemented at Shanghai Port, Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, Suzhou Port and Nantong Port.
The ministry will later evaluate the effectiveness of the ECAs and has planned to reduce the sulphur content to 0.1% in the next three years.
In November 2015, Ministry of Transport released a plan to create three ECAs at Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and Bohai Rim. The Pearl River Delta ECA is likely to be enforced in 2016, something that shipping lines in Hong Kong have led the way on.
