Hainan News

Every day, nearly 60 fully loaded very large crude-oil carriers sail between the Persian Gulf and Chinese ports, carrying about half of the oil that powers the world's second-largest economy.As the vessels enter the South China Sea, they ply waters increasingly controlled by China's growing military, from the missile batteries and airfields at its bases on disputed islands to its stealthy Type 055 destroyers.But when crossing the Indian Ocean, joined by others headed to China from Africa and Brazil…

Australia's Defence Minister Richard Marles said on Saturday that the wreck of a Japanese merchant ship, sunk in World War Two with 864 Australian soldiers on board, had been found in the South China Sea, ending a tragic chapter of the country's history.Marles said the SS Montevideo Maru, an unmarked prisoner of war transport vessel missing since being sunk off the Philippines' coast in July 1942, had been discovered northwest of Luzon island.The ship was torpedoed en route from what is now Papua New Guinea to China's Hainan by a U.S. submarine, unaware of the POWs onboard.

CMA-CGM, the world's fourth-largest container shipping line, has told customers it will not take bookings for cargo due to arrive at ports in southern China over several weeks in early 2021 due to a suspension of service by feeder operators.Feeders collect containers from smaller ports and take them to terminals where they can be loaded onto large vessels.CMA-CGM's move comes amid a global shortage of containers that is likely to hamper surging exports from China as the world…

The United States on Wednesday blacklisted 24 Chinese companies and targeted individuals it said were part of construction and military actions in the South China Sea, its first such sanctions move against Beijing over the disputed strategic waterway.The U.S. Commerce Department said the two dozen companies played a “role in helping the Chinese military construct and militarize the internationally condemned artificial islands in the South China Sea.”Separately, the State Department said it would impose visa restrictions on Chinese individuals “responsible for…

The Philippines has lodged a diplomatic protest over what it said was China’s illegal confiscation of fish aggregating devices from Filipino fisherman in a disputed lagoon held by Beijing in the South China Sea.The Philippine foreign ministry said the incident happened three months ago at the Scarborough Shoal, a prime fishing site seized by Beijing in 2012 after a standoff that prompted an unprecedented international legal challenge by Manila.In a statement late on Thursday, it gave no other details about that incident…

China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec ), China's first large-scale production of greener low-sulfur marine fuel oil (LSFO), announced the production capability of 10 million and 15 million tons of low-sulfur marine fuel oil in 2020 and 2023.The Beijing-based Chinese oil and gas enterprise said in a press release that by January 1, 2020, Zhoushan and other China major ports will be fully covered with Sinopec product availability, and more than 50 key overseas ports, including Singapore, will be covered with Sinopec supply ability.The commitment will contribute 600,000 tons of sulfur oxide emissions reduction, equivalent to shutting…

Shell Marine integrated solutions have saved the equivalent of around $123,000 annually for its customer China’s operator of RoRo tonnage Hainan Strait Shipping.On Shell’s advice, Hainan Strait Shipping had switched its trunk piston engine oils to a combination of Shell Argina S3 40 and Shell Gadinia S3 40 for six ships operating in the South China Sea.With this change, Hainan Strait Shipping was able to reduce maintenance and lubricant costs, while improving the efficiency and longevity of its MAN Diesel & Turbo main and auxiliary engines.Joris van Brussel, Global General Manager, Shell Marine, said: “The solutions we put forward enabled Hainan Strait Shipping to optimise marine engine performance.

Partners in the world’s largest operational agreement between shipping companies have agreed to extend their alliance until 2027.The Ocean Alliance, consisting of CMA CGM Group, COSO SHIPPING, Evergreen and OOCL, was launched in 2017 for an initial period of five years with an option for a five-year renewal.The partners confirmed they will extend to the alliance's full 10-year duration, during a signing ceremony in Hainan, China on Thursday.Rodolphe Saadé, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the CMA CGM Group…

The New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC) and COSCO Shipping  'Hainan-ASEAN (Singapore)' Liner Route, co-hosted by Hainan Provincial People’s Government and COSCO Shipping, was launched at Hainan Yangpu Xiaochantan Terminal owned by Hainan Harbor & Shipping Holding.Hainan Governor Shen Xiaoming announced the launch of the maiden voyage.The “Hainan-ASEAN (Singapore)” Liner Route opens a direct passage through which goods from China’s western regions can be shipped southward to Singapore via Yangpu Port, as well as a new channel for transferring cargo from China’s coastal ports to Southeast Asia via Yangpu.It declares that Yangpu Port in Hainan has turned to a new pivot of ILSTC and marks that ILSTC…

China's maritime authority has banned the discharge of "wash water" used in ships to strip hazardous sulphur emissions from engine exhaust gases from Jan. 1, in an effort to curb pollution of its coastal seas.The ban on discharges from so-called open-loop scrubbers affects all rivers and ports along China's coastline and includes the Bohai Sea, according to an official from the China's Maritime Safety Administration (MSA).The measure mirrors a similar move made in Singapore ahead of International Maritime Organization (IMO) rules that will ban ships from using marine fuels with a sulphur content of more than 0.5 percent from 2020, unless…

Tighter rules on shipping emissions around China's coastlines from the start of next year is a clear sign the world's No.

China's offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC has started developing a new gas field in the South China Sea, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Tuesday.The Lingshui 17-2 gas field is the first deep sea gas block fully operated by a Chinese company, Xinhua said citing CNOOC officials.The deep sea project, which was discovered in 2014, is 150 km (94 miles) south of China's southern Hainan island, with an average operational depth of 1,500 metres, according to a Reuters report from that year.CNOOC is ready to start building a subsea level platform used for drilling, Xinhua said.(Reporting by Meng Meng and Aizhu Chen; Editing by Tom Hogue)

China aims to establish a free trade zone in Hainan by 2020 and will encourage multinationals to set up their international and regional headquarters in the province, state news agency Xinhua reported citing a government document. The guidance was jointly issued by the ruling Communist Party and State Council, Xinhua said. It comes after President Xi Jinping announced on Friday that the country would grant foreign firms greater economic freedom in the southernmost province. Known for its sandy beaches and resort-lined coast…

The Philippines is looking to seal a pact with China within a few months to jointly explore for oil and gas in a part of the busy South China Sea waterway claimed by both countries, a Philippine official said on Monday. In February, the two countries agreed to set up a special panel to work out how to jointly explore for offshore oil and gas in areas both sides claim, without needing to address the touchy issue of sovereignty. "We're trying to see if we can achieve an agreement, hopefully within the next couple of months," Jose Santiago Santa Romana, Philippine ambassador to the People's Republic of China, told a news conference held on China's island province of Hainan.

China's Defence Ministry said on Thursday the military was carrying out routine training in the South China Sea, but would not comment on the presence of China's sole operational aircraft carrier there. Dozens of Chinese naval vessels are exercising this week with an aircraft carrier in a large show of force off China's Hainan island in the South China Sea, satellite images obtained by Reuters show. The images, provided by Planet Labs Inc, confirmed a Chinese carrier group had entered the important trade waterway as part of what the Chinese navy earlier described as combat drills that were part of routine annual exercises. The Liaoning carrier group last week traversed the Taiwan Strait, according to the Taiwan defence ministry.

Dozens of Chinese naval vessels are exercising this week with an aircraft carrier in a large show of force off Hainan island in the South China Sea, satellite images obtained by Reuters show. The images, provided by Planet Labs Inc, confirm a Chinese carrier group has entered the vital trade waterway as part of what the Chinese navy earlier described as combat drills that were part of routine annual exercises. The Liaoning carrier group last week traversed the Taiwan Strait, according to the Taiwanese defense ministry.

Aulong Shipbuilding, a joint venture company between Australian shipbuilder Austal and Guandong Jianglong Shipbuilding of China, has secured contracts for four new high speed ferries. Under the recently awarded A$20 million (US$15.6 million) contracts, Aulong will design and build four 42-meter high speed catamarans for Xidao Dazhou Tourism Co Ltd. Construction will commence from Aulong’s Zhongshan shipyard in Guandong Province in March 2018, with delivery scheduled for early 2019.

A unit of China's State Oceanic Administration (SOA) on Friday issued a blue alert for sea ice in a key port area in the north of the country, potentially disrupting commodities shipments, as temperatures in the region plummet. Sea ice in the Liaodong Bay, the northern arm of China's Bohai Sea, now extends 67 nautical miles (124 km) from the shoreline, the North China Sea Marine Forecasting Center said in an 0700 GMT alert. Ice also extends 18 nautical miles out in the northern part of the Yellow Sea, the Center said.

Vietnam on Tuesday issued a strong condemnation of Chinese military live-fire exercises in the disputed South China Sea, amid rising tension between the two countries. The Maritime Safety Administration of China's southern province of Hainan, which oversees the South China Sea, said last month there would be live fire drills around the Paracel Islands, which Vietnam claims, until September 2. "Vietnam strongly objects this action by China and seriously requests China to respect Vietnam's sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelagos," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said in a statement. "Vietnam once again asserts…

Destructive winds, waves batter Hong Kong, south China. Typhoon Hato, a maximum category 10 storm, slammed into Hong Kong on Wednesday lashing the Asian financial hub with wind and rain that uprooted trees and forced most businesses to close, while in some places big waves flooded seaside streets. There were reports of 34 people injured in Hong Kong while in the city of Macau, across the Pearl River estuary, three people were killed, authorities there said. In Hong Kong, more than 450 flights were cancelled, financial markets suspended and schools closed as Hato bore down, the first category 10 storm to hit the city since 2012. "I've never seen one like this," Garrett Quigley, a longtime resident of Lantau island to the west of the city, said of the storm.

CEFC China Energy was awarded a licence by Zhoushan Free Trade Zone for supply  marine bunker fuel off the east coast of China to vessels on international voyages, reports Reuters. The report quoted two CEFC officials saying that the license is to supply bunker fuel from bonded storage to vessels that call at the Zhoushan area. The Zhoushan Free Trade Zone is in the coastal province of Zhejiang and is a new free trade zone the Chinese government approved earlier this year to boost commodities trade. Chinese media yicai.com reported last week that three other companies including Zhejiang Energy Group, Jiangsu CNPC & Tafo Petroleum Corp and a unit of privately run Herun Group were also given licenses. Those permits bring the total number of tax-bonded bunker licenses in the country to nine.

China has commissioned a new cruise ship to take tourists to islands claimed by Vietnam in the disputed South China Sea, reinforcing its claim over the area, reports Reuters. The ship called Changle Gongzhu, or Changle Princess, sailed from Sanya with 308 passengers on board. Its first voyage will last four days and three nights, said an official with Hainan Strait Shipping, owner of the vessel. The Paracel Islands, in the South China Sea where Beijing is locked in maritime disputes with Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan, is also claimed by Vietnam. China lays claim to 90% of the resource rich South China Sea, through which a third of the world's maritime traffic passes. Beijing had earlier said that it plans to build villas, shops and hotels on the islands.

A new Chinese cruise ship has embarked on its maiden voyage to the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, state news agency Xinhua said on Friday, the latest effort by Beijing to bolster its claims in the strategic waterway. The Changle Princess sailed from Sanya on the southern Chinese island province of Hainan on Thursday afternoon with 308 passengers on a four-day voyage, Xinhua said. The new ship can carry 499 people and has 82 guest rooms with dining, entertainment, shopping, medical and postal services on board, it added. Tourists will be able to visit the three islands in the Crescent group of the Paracels, Xinhua said.