Yangtze River News

China’s robust export growth likely moderated in July amid an acceleration in COVID-19 cases globally and continuing severe pressure on global supply chains, a Reuters poll showed on Friday.Although there are signs China’s strong industrial recovery in the first half of the year may be losing some momentum, overseas demand has remained strong in recent months even as factories in many countries return from lockdowns.Headline trade numbers are also being helped by the statistical…

China foiled criminals seeking to smuggle nearly 1 million tonnes of refined oil worth 5 billion yuan ($770 million), with officials seizing 11 ships and detaining 171 suspects in a sprawling swoop on Tuesday, customs authorities said.The operation, which saw customs officers from the port city of Ningbo join forces with local law enforcement and maritime police, spanned eight Chinese regions, including the coastal provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong and Fujian, the General Administration of Customs said in a statement.A total of 14 gangs were busted on Tuesday, the agency added.

China has launched a crackdown on illegal sand mining operations on the Yangtze river, which have made large parts of central China more vulnerable to drought.Excessive sand mining on the Yangtze, which provides water for a third of the Chinese population, is believed to be responsible for the abnormally low levels of water during the winter drought season in recent years.Sand mining in the river and its connecting lakes and tributaries has also affected shipping routes and made it harder for authorities to control summer floods.According to a notice issued by the water…

China's Jiasheng Gas Co Ltd, an independent gas distributor, has agreed an engineering and construction deal to build a 2.5 billion yuan ($380 million) liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage and receiving facility in east China, the Shanghai Oil and Gas Exchange and a company executive said.The little-known firm is among a group of companies outside the dominant state oil and gas giants that are expected to lead new investment in LNG import terminals over the next decade as China opens up the sector to more private participation.The first phase of the project, to be built at Jiangyin port in Jian

Shipbuilder China Merchants Heavy Industry (Jiangsu) is building a new cruise vessel for owner Changjiang Cruise Overseas Travel.The CSC-designed vessel is intended for operation on the Yangtze River, the largest river in China, and is scheduled to enter service in September 2021.The 150-meter-long long and 23-meter-wide vessel will reach an operating cruise speed of 14 knots. It will accommodate 600 guests served by 150 international crew members.German propulsion manufacturer SCHOTTEL said it has been awarded a contract to provide azimuth thrusters for the newbuild…

The Amazon river dolphin is an intelligent and friendly mammal that appears to grin and flush like a human blushing when it gets excited.But some are concerned about the world's largest freshwater dolphin coming under threat again in Brazil, where fishermen hunt and kill it illegally to make bait for a catfish called piracatinga.A legal moratorium on fishing the piracatinga ended last month, prompting calls for its renewal from environmentalists and researchers such as biologist Vera da Silva…

The Wuhan coronavirus outbreak has placed the shipping industry on high alert amid a rising death toll in China and reports that the fast-spreading illness is reaching new shores.The flu-like coronavirus, first identified in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China on December 31, has killed more than two dozen people in China and is believed to have infected more than 900 worldwide, according to several media reports. Cases have been confirmed in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong, and internationally in travelers returning from China to Japan…

On October 10, 2019 the steel cutting ceremony took place at Jiangsu Jinling Shipyard, Co. Ltd. in Yizheng, China (a subsidiary of the Nanjing Jinling Shipyard) for four oil/deck cargo barges being constructed for the Government of the Northwest Territories in Northern Canada.Steel blocks will be constructed at the Yizheng shipyard and then barged approx. 50 kilometers up the Yangtze River to Nanjing Jinling Shipyard for final assembly. Following steel cutting the construction is expected to take 9 months…

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 for some ports, according to a government document reviewed by Reuters on Tuesday.The ban on water discharge from so-called open-loop scrubbers is part of an effort to prepare for International Maritime Organization (IMO) rules that will ban ships from using fuel oil with a sulphur content of more than 0.5 percent from 2020…

While all eyes are on 2020 and the introduction of the IMO’s global sulphur cap, Hong Kong and Taiwan are aligning their emission regulations with the Chinese Emission Control Area (ECA) requirements and will implement a local 0.50% sulphur cap from 1 January 2019, said Gard.A release from the maritime insurer said that the IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee’s 73rd session (MEPC73) has just ended, and with it, so did all speculations about a potential delay of the global 0.50% sulphur cap. The rules apply from 1 January 2020 - and they will be enforced.Hong Kong’s current Fuel at Berth Regulation requiring ships to burn fuel with a sulphur content not exceeding 0.50% while at berth is soon to be replaced by one that will extend the standard to ships operating in Hong Kong waters…

Swire Group’s shipping arm China Navigation Company establishes presence in Shanghai where it was founded 147 years ago!The China Navigation Company (CNCo) opened its China headquarters officially in Shanghai on 05 November 2018, marking a significant return to its birthplace 147 years ago, and a significant milestone in its history, said a press release from the company.CNCo started operations on the Yangtze River in 1872, operating a modest fleet of Mississippi-style paddle steamers.CNCo is a major global player in the shipping scene today, with operations spanning Australia, China, PNG, Fiji, India, New Zealand and the US. Headquartered in Singapore…

The market for marine exhaust gas cleaning systems, also known as scrubbers, is expected to continue generating momentum in the years ahead amid increasing concern toward maritime pollution and new environmental regulations. The global market share for marine scrubbers is predicted to surpass $8 billion by 2024, according to a report by Global Market Insights.As per the latest International Maritime Organization (IMO) legislation, effective from January 1, 2020, the maximum limit of sulphur in fuel oil used on board ships will be 0.5 percent m/m…

Major ports around the Yangtze River Delta will impose tighter rules on emissions from vessels in and around the ports starting on Oct. 1, a newspaper run by China's Ministry of Transport said in a report.The ports affected are Shanghai, the world's biggest container port, as well as ports in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. The report in the China Water Transport newspaper was dated Aug. 24.That is earlier than the implementation date of Jan. 1, 2019 announced previously.China's…

China's Ministry of Transport said on Friday it is soliciting feedback from oil companies, shipowners' and port associations, and marine authorities for a plan to use liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a marine bunker fuel.China will expedite the planning and siting of key berths for LNG tankers in the Bohai Bay area of northern China, as well as along its main rivers, the ministry said.The ministry has asked companies and agencies to give feedback by Aug.

A committee investigating a collision between an Iranian tanker and a Chinese freighter has come to diverging conclusions over the causes of the worst oil ship disaster in decades, Iran's state television reported on Saturday.The Panama-registered Sanchi, run by Iran's top oil shipping operator NITC, collided with the CF Crystal, registered in Hong Kong, off the coast of China near Shanghai and the mouth of the Yangtze River Delta on Jan. 6.The Sanchi sank on Jan. 14 after burning for several days.

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for achieving high-quality economic growth through developing the Yangtze River economic belt. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at a symposium on promoting the development of the Yangtze River economic belt in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province. He stressed the importance of enhancing reform and innovation, strategic coordination as well as planning and guiding in developing the economic belt. "It is a major decision made by the CPC Central Committee and a major strategy concerning overall national development to promote the development of the Yangtze River economic belt," Xi said.

The bodies of three of the crew of the Sanchi, the tanker involved in the worst oil ship disaster in decades off the coast of China, have been identified, the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) reported Saturday. The three crew members identified are Milad Aravi, Majid Naqian and Mohammad Kavousi, the agency reported. The semi-official Fars news agency said that the three were Iranian. The Iranian government is trying to get the bodies of the three crew members back to Iran, according to ISNA.

The maritime authorities of China, Panama, Iran and Hong Kong on Thursday signed an agreement to jointly investigate a collision in the East China Sea that caused the worst oil ship disaster in decades, according to China's Ministry of Transport. Investigation work will be organised by a joint team composed of representatives of all four signatories to the agreement, a brief statement from the ministry said. The Panama-registered Sanchi tanker (IMO:9356608), run by Iran's top oil shipping operator, collided on Jan. 6 with the CF Crystal (IMO:9497050) about 160 nautical miles off the coast of China near Shanghai and the mouth of the Yangtze River Delta. The Sanchi, which was sailing from Iran to South Korea, carrying 136,000 tonnes of condensate, an ultra light crude, sank on Jan.

The black boxes for the tanker Sanchi and the freighter CF Crystal, the two vessels that collided in the worst oil ship disaster in decades, have been opened, the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) reported on Wednesday. Officials from China, Iran, and Panama were present when the black boxes were opened, Hadi Haqshenas, maritime affairs deputy at Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization, was quoted as saying by ISNA. The report did not say where that happened. “Clarifying the ultimate results of the deciphering process takes time and it could take months,” Haqshenas said, according to ISNA. The Sanchi, run by Iran’s top oil shipping operator, collided with the CF Crystal about 160 nautical miles off the coast of China near Shanghai and the mouth of the Yangtze River Delta on Jan.

Strong winds, high waves and toxic gases are hindering dozens of rescue boats struggling to locate missing sailors from a stricken oil tanker in the East China Sea and to extinguish a fire that has burned for the past three days on the ship. The poor conditions, with rain and waves as high as 3 metres (10 feet), frustrated efforts to tame the fire and search for the 31 remaining tanker crew members, China's Ministry of Transport said in a statement on Tuesday. The flames were forcing the South Korean Coast Guard's search and rescue team to stay as far as 3 miles (4.8 km) away from the tanker, two South Korean officials told Reuters.

Body of crew member found on board; casualty might be worst tanker oil spill since 1991 and concerns grow that tanker may explode, sink. Rescue crews wrestled to bring a blaze on an Iranian oil tanker off China's east coast under control on Monday as fire raged for a second day following a collision with a grain ship, while the body of one of the 32 missing crew members was found on aboard. Concerns were growing that the tanker, which hit a freight ship on Saturday night in the East China Sea and burst into flames, may explode and sink, the official China Central Television (CCTV) said on Monday, citing experts on the rescue team. Poor weather continued to hamper the rescue work, Lu Kang, a spokesman at China's foreign ministry, told a regular news briefing.

A tanker carrying Iranian oil and run by the country's top oil shipping firm was ablaze and spewing cargo into the East China Sea on Sunday after colliding with a Chinese freight ship, leaving the tanker's 32 crew members missing, the Chinese government said.Thick clouds of dark smoke could be seen billowing out of the Sanchi tanker  engulfing the vessel as rescue efforts were hampered by bad weather and fire on and around the ship, Mohammad Rastad, head of Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization, told Iranian television.The Sanchi, run by the country's top oil shipping operator, collided with the CF Crystal about 160 nautical miles off the coast near Shanghai and the mouth of the Yangtze River Delta on Saturday evening…

Kawasaki Heavy Industries will move more of its commercial shipbuilding operations from Japan to China. It aims to reduce its production in Japan from 40% of all builds to 25% in a bid to increase profitability. The company currently operates a shipyard outside Shanghai in a 50-50 partnership with China's Cosco Shipping. The shipyard, Nantong Cosco KHI Ship Engineering, is located in Jiangsu Province along the Yangtze River and is much larger than Kawasaki's Japanese facitlity.