Members who transport chemicals in the Yangtze River Basin should be aware that the Yangtze River Protection law (December 2020) bans the transportation of “highly toxic chemicals and other dangerous chemicals by inland river in the Yangtze River” from 1 March 2021.
The Yangtze River Basin includes some wharfs of Shanghai and ports in the Yangtze River including Taicang, Changshu, Nantong, Jiangyin, Zhangjiagang, Jingjiang, Taizhou, Yangzhou, Zhenjiang, Nanjing, Ma An Shan, Wuhan, Yibin, etc.
The Shanghai MSA issued a notice on 18 February 2021 providing guidance on the “highly toxic chemicals” and “other dangerous chemicals”:
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“Highly toxic chemicals” are the chemicals marked as “highly toxic” in the remarks column of the Catalogue of Hazardous Chemicals (2015 Edition)
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“Other dangerous chemicals forbidden to be transported by inland river” are the chemicals listed in the Catalogue of Prohibited Dangerous Chemicals by Inland River (2019 Edition). According to this Catalogue, 228 types of dangerous chemical cargo are totally forbidden to be transported by inland river regardless of its packing and the other 85 types of dangerous chemical cargo are forbidden to be transported by inland river in bulk.
A correspondent in China, Oasis P&I Services Company Limited, suggests that owners and carriers – prior to accepting bookings for the carriage of chemicals - obtain full details of the cargo to verify that the chemicals are not banned from transportation by inland river.
As carriers may face significant fines for carrying banned cargo and other penalties, such as business licences being revoked, Members carrying chemicals through the Yangtze River Basin should carry out appropriate due diligence to check whether the chemicals are on the banned lists. Consideration should also be given to suitable clauses being included in the charterparty wherever there is a possibility that a vessel may carry chemicals through the Yangtze River Basin.
For more details, click
here to access the correspondent's circular.
The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Xinde Marine News.
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