China’s Tianjin Port will impose a ban on coal transportation by trucks earlier than expected in order to alleviate pollution caused by diesel-powered trucks and coal consumption.
In February, China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection released a notice to the major ports around the Bohai Rim to ban trucking coal at Tianjin Port before the end of July and all ports around the Bohai Rim are ordered to stop receiving coal trucks by the end of September.
In a government meeting, Tianjin Environmental Protection and Tianjin Port have decided to impose the ban as early as the end of this month. By then, coal handled by the port will be transported by rail instead.
Tianjin Port said in a notice to clients that the move is an important political task as China’s central government aims to cut pollution in Beijing, Hebei province and Tianjin, one of the smoggiest regions of the country.
Tianjin Port completed a coal handing volume of 109.7 tons in 2016, and coal volume transported by truck was about 56m tons, accounting for about 51.04% of the total volume.
In order to ensure the coal inventory in the port and increased demand for rail transport, China Railway has arranged a huge amount of extra train capacity to the train stations in the coal producing regions.
