Introducing China
China has a coastline of 18,000 km and the world’s longest and most extensive inland waterway system with a total of 127,700 km of navigable waterways. The country has seven of the world’s top 10 container ports, plus about 400 smaller ones. Waterborne traffic volume on its inland waterways is the largest in the world, and their efficiency and profitability continue to increase. In 2020, China’s river vessels amounted to 115,000 units with a total carrying capacity of 136.73 million tonnes. During the past decades, China created specialized berths at the leading river ports with equipped and significant port territory. There is an accelerated development of multimodal transportation, modern logistics and business services provided.
As a key player in the global shipping industry and the related research and development, China is eager to join the worldwide trend of improving the industry to achieve a green, sustainable and efficient model of development. In 2019, seven government departments jointly issued a national guideline to promote the integration of modern information technology, artificial intelligence and other innovative and high technology with shipping sector to develop the intelligent shipping industry. According to the guideline, China aims to become a global innovation hub for intelligent shipping development by 2025, the owner of core intelligent shipping technology by 2035, and form a high-quality intelligent shipping system by 2050.
Meanwhile, China has also been taking another important step to combat shipping pollution. In 2015, the government designated a series of Domestic Emission Control Areas (DECAs) in the country’s three busiest port regions – the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and Bohai Bay – as part of a plan to phase in a low sulphur marine fuel mandate. Later in 2018, the government released a new regulation designating a larger coastal DECAs that extends 12 nautical miles off China’s coastline. Two stricter inland river emission control areas were also set up, covering broader areas along the Yangtze River main line in the central area and the Xijiang River main line in the South. According to the new regulation, all ships operating inside the coastal DECA must burn fuel with a sulfur content not exceeding 0.5 percent at all times. Oceangoing ships that ply the inland river DECAs must use fuel with a sulfur content not exceeding 0.1 percent on January 1, 2020. Beginning on January 1, 2022, a 0.1% sulfur cap will be applied to all ships operating inside Hainan waters.
In general, to achieve the goal of raising its global competitiveness in the transport sector by setting up transport networks with wider coverage, higher speed and more sustainable technology, China has been working with the experts from global marine industry including governmental agencies, R&D centers, equipment suppliers, shipping companies, ports, and greenhouse gas-related research institutions to exchange ideas on the development of international cutting-edge ship and shipping technology.
