On 26th July, China Ministry of Transport (MOT) issued a notice [1] seeking feedback on the new draft of Regulations on the Management of Domestic Waterway Transport, the consultation will end on 28th August.
The Regulations stipulated the basic rules for cargo transportation and passenger transportation on domestic waterways. The Regulations specify the requirements for domestic waterway transport operators and operation, special provisions for foreign-invested enterprises and foreign vessels, requirements for waterway passenger transportation service, supervision and inspection measures and legal liability. For dangerous goods transport, some new provisions were added.
In China, the transport of dangerous goods on waterways is also regulated by the Maritime Traffic Safety Law, State Council Decree 591, Ship Carrying Dangerous Goods Safety Supervision and Administration and other related laws or regulations (Chemlinked News [2]). According to the new draft, the inter-provincial dangerous goods shipping licenses will be granted by MOT. For inter-provincial shipping on the Yangtze River and Pearl River systems, the licenses will specifically be granted by Yangtze River Navigation Administration and Zhujiang Navigation Administration.
The draft also emphasizes shipper's responsibility to report dangerous goods information to the waterway transport operator. The information includes the name, quantity, hazardous classification of the dangerous goods, and emergency measures in the event of accidents, etc. Operators are also required to fully comply with their inspection responsibilities during transportation. From a policy perspective there have been numerous milestone reforms made to China’s transport requirements across land, air and sea and as part of this dangerous goods will be subject to increasingly strict control.
