Growing concerns about shipping pollution has led to a new registration system for Guangdong ships visiting Hong Kong waters, reports said. The new system would spot polluting ships from Guangdong entering Hong Kong. Nearly 1,200 vessels coming to Hong Kong, or 90% of the total, are from the Chinese province.
It is thought some of the Chinese vessels burn exceptionally dirty fuel, worsening the already poor air quality of the East Asian territory.
"We signed an agreement with the marine authority in Guangdong province two months ago to enforce a registration system," So Chi-ping, general manager of local vessel safety from Hong Kong's Marine Department, was quoted saying.
"Now, we can identify all the Guangdong vessels, even those which are smaller than 400 gross tonnes, when they sail or pass by Hong Kong waters," he told a Legislative Council meeting on the regulation of merchant shipping to prevent air pollution.
"We can also check their shipping companies to see if they are using clean fuel," he said, adding that the registration system would be extended to Hainan, Guangxi and Fujian by end of this year.
To date, 43 countries, including China, are signatories to the MARPOL Annex VI regulation on preventing sea pollution from ships.
MARPOL Annex VI states that the average sulphur content of bunker fuel should not exceed 4.5%.
Hong Kong bunker suppliers have said the sulphur content of bunker fuel supplied at the port have average 3.8%, meeting the international regulation's requirement.
Democrat legislator Sin Chung-kai, however, observed that many ships did not buy bunker fuel from local suppliers.
He noted that emissions from small vessels and ferries from China and Macau were very serious.
Data from Hong Kong's Environmental Protection Department (EPD) showed that ships' emissions of sulphur dioxides (SO2) rose marginally by 0.4% in 2005 over the previous year.
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