IN02 - Disposal of Food Wastes in Chinese Coasts
The Club wishes to bring to the attention of Members a circular from local correspondents Huatai – Circular reference PNI/SPRO[2022]08 on the Regulations on Disposal of Food Wastes in Chinese Coasts and Loss Prevention Suggestions. The circular provides detail of baselines for the territorial sea as Published by the Chinese Government, and was prompted by a number of Clubs enquiring about the “administrative fines being faced by their entered ships for dumpling food wastes in Chinese waters”.
Bohai Sea – Whilst baselines for the Bohai Sea waters have not been formally announced, based on Huatai’s experience, “China MSA, when enforcing the regulations, considers that west to the connecting line between west corner of Lao Tie Shan and Penglai Jiao (the red dotted line in the figure) is China's internal water, where all wastes from ships are forbidden to discharge”.
Huatai state that “The main reason for the illegal discharge of garbage is that some crew members are not clear about the position of the ship, or do not know the baseline coordinates of China's territorial sea, or lack of understanding that the Bohai Sea is inland water where dumping of food wastes is prohibited”. Huatai also go on to say that “about 23% of the fines for garbage disposal handled in 2020-2022 were for illegally dumping food wastes. Most of them occurred in the Bohai Sea, accounting for 70%, and the Yellow, East and South China Seas each accounted for 10%. The maximum fine was CNY70,000, while the lowest fine was CNY30,000. The average fine per case was CNY43,000.”
Huatai Loss Prevention Suggestions include plotting of baseline coordinates on a chart or ECDIS for general guidance in order to visually display the area prohibited from discharge.
Club further recommends that where there is any doubt or uncertainty in this regard Members and their ship masters should contact local port agents and correspondents prior to any port call.
Supportive Information
For further information on this or other Loss Prevention topics please contact the Loss Prevention Department, Steamship Insurance Management Services Ltd.
Tel: +44 20 7247 5490 Email: [email protected]