Ministry of Transportation: Encourage regions with conditions to explore and promote the comprehensive electrification of regional ships.

On August 27, the Ministry of Transport issued a notice on the implementation of the policy for scrapping and upgrading old operating vessels. The notice pointed out that research and pilot applications of replacement of movable devices such as container power sources on vessels should be supported, and relevant vessel technical specifications should be improved. After the pilot program is organized and conducted by the provincial transportation authorities according to regulations, and after safety verification and necessary safety measures are taken, container power sources can be managed as ship equipment at the harbor terminal lifting stage. Encourage regions with conditions to explore the comprehensive electrification of regional vessels. Accelerate the research and formulation of crew competency standards and crew policy adapted to the characteristics of electric vessels. The original text is as follows: Notice from the Ministry of Transport Office on the Implementation of Policies for Scrapping and Upgrading Old Operating Vessels To the transportation departments of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, the Yangtze River Navigation Bureau, the Pearl River Navigation Bureau, the China Classification Society, and all directly affiliated maritime bureaus: In order to implement the "Notice of the Ministry of Transport and other 13 departments on Printing and Distributing the Action Plan for Large-Scale Equipment Renewal in Transportation" (Planning and Development [2024] No. 62) and the "Notice of the Ministry of Transport and the National Development and Reform Commission on Printing and Distributing the Rules for Implementation of Subsidies for Scrapping and Upgrading Old Operating Vessels in Transportation" (Planning and Development [2024] No. 95, hereinafter referred to as the "Implementation Rules"), in order to carry out the implementation of policies for scrapping and upgrading old operating vessels, the relevant matters are hereby notified as follows. 1. Enhance awareness and accurately grasp the relevant contents of the "Implementation Rules" Promoting the scrapping and upgrading of old operating vessels is an important measure to accelerate the adjustment of ship capacity structure, promote the high-quality development of the shipping industry, accelerate the construction of a strong transportation country, and serve the formation of a new development pattern. It is conducive to promoting investment and consumption, benefiting both the present and the long term. The transportation authorities, maritime management agencies, and ship inspection agencies at all levels in various regions should further enhance their awareness, strengthen their sense of responsibility, urgency, and mission, organize relevant personnel to carefully study and understand the "Implementation Rules" and the spirit of this notice, optimize transportation structure, promote standardized and green development, and accurately grasp the scope and standards of subsidies for scrapping and upgrading old operating vessels, subsidy declaration and review procedures, and other related policy requirements. Transportation authorities at all levels and maritime management agencies should use various forms to disseminate and interpret policies to ship owners who meet the conditions in their jurisdiction. Provincial transportation authorities should collect problems encountered in the process of implementing the scrapping and upgrading of old operating vessels in their province (district, city) in a timely manner, strengthen tracking and analysis together with the same-level development and reform departments, and seriously study and report major issues to the ministry and the National Development and Reform Commission in a timely manner according to procedures. 2. Strengthen organizational implementation to ensure policy implementation (1) Establish sound work mechanisms. The work of scrapping and upgrading old operating vessels in transportation is extensive, policy-oriented, labor-intensive, and requires high management requirements. Transportation authorities at all levels, directly affiliated maritime management agencies, and ship inspection agencies at the local level should strengthen organizational leadership, further refine division of responsibilities, designate specific personnel, and establish special task forces in areas with heavy workloads to ensure the smooth progress of ship dismantling supervision duties, archival retention, and the necessary work funds. Local transportation authorities should strengthen their cooperation with local-level development and reform departments, central maritime management agencies, and branch offices of the China Classification Society, establish sound joint work mechanisms, and implement subsidies for scrapping and upgrading old operating vessels policy effectively under the unified leadership of local governments; under the unified leadership of local governments, they should promote local ecological environment departments and ship dismantling industry competent departments to strengthen supervision in accordance with the law and prevent ship dismantling from causing environmental pollution. (2) Organize project applications in a timely manner. Transportation authorities at all levels, in conjunction with the local central maritime management agencies, should comprehensively investigate the conditions of ships in their jurisdiction that meet the requirements, establish relevant information accounts based on the changing age of old operating vessels, understand the dismantling and scrapping intentions of each enterprise and each vessel, guide ship owners to choose compliant ship dismantling companies for ship dismantling, encourage enterprises to optimize transportation structures, eliminate outdated production capacity, encourage the construction of standardized and green vessels, guide ship owners requiring subsidy funds to apply for projects in a timely and accurate manner as required, and cooperate with same-level development and reform departments to prepare funding application documents and project lists for the scrapping and upgrading of old operating vessels. They should assist the same-level development and reform departments in implementing the requirements of Article 9 of the "Implementation Rules" to check whether there are any situations that should not be reported (this can be done by querying relevant lists of dishonesty penalties on the "Credit China" website). Local transportation authorities should not duplicate subsidies for passenger ships and ferry projects supported by the subsidy funds for inter-island and rural waterway passenger transportation fuel prices allocated by the Ministry of Finance. (3) Strictly review and check. The transportation authorities at the district and municipal levels, the ship registration port maritime management agencies, and the ship inspection agencies should, according to their respective responsibilities, guide, strictly review and check against the conditions and application materials required by the "Implementation Rules" and related guiding documents, such as the subsidy conditions for the ship owner and ship, the accurate calculation of the subsidy amount, and whether the new ship meets the requirements of the ship energy efficiency design index and the standardization requirements for inland transportation vessels. They should also establish a sound internal supervisory mechanism. The provincial transportation authorities should strengthen the review of the funding application documents and project lists for scrapping and upgrading old operating vessels reported by cities and districts. If problems are found, they should be corrected in a timely manner to ensure that the submitted materials are true and accurate. Before dismantling a ship, the transportation authorities at the district and municipal levels in the ship registration port should assign one worker to supervise the ship dismantling process on-site (if the transportation authority and maritime management agency are two entities under one organization, two workers should be assigned for onsite supervision), conduct verification on the actual ship, take at least one photo at each of the three stages (before dismantling, during dismantling, after dismantling) of the ship (the photos should include the onsite supervisor; the ship to be dismantled should display the ship's name information) and attach them to the "Ship Dismantling Completion Report". The onsite supervisor should sign the "Ship Dismantling Completion Report" and be responsible for its authenticity. For ships registered with central maritime management agencies, the transportation authorities at the district and municipal levels in the ship registration port should coordinate with the maritime management agency to conduct the necessary supervision of the ship dismantling process.The maritime supervision work is carried out by the directly affiliated maritime management organization responsible for dismantling, and also bears the responsibility of on-site supervision. The maritime management organization of the port of registry is responsible for assisting the transportation competent authority in reviewing application materials, and coordinating with the maritime management organization of the dismantling site to ensure smooth coordination.(IV) Strengthen dynamic tracking. Provincial transportation authorities should closely track the arrangement and implementation effects of subsidy funds in accordance with the requirements of the "Implementation Rules," in conjunction with the development and reform departments at the same level, and conduct regular spot checks as required. The Yangtze River Navigation Management Bureau and the Pearl River Navigation Management Bureau, entrusted by the ministry, will strengthen tracking and coordination of work related to the scrapping and renewal of old operating vessels by provincial transportation authorities, directly affiliated maritime management agencies, and ship inspection agencies in the respective provinces and regions. Relevant information should be promptly reported to the ministry. III. Accelerate the improvement of relevant supporting measures and promote high-quality development of the industry. (I) Promote the standardized development of rural passenger ferry boats. Provincial transportation authorities (involving central management waters, in conjunction with directly affiliated maritime management agencies) should take advantage of the policy opportunities for scrapping and renewing old operating vessels, organize research and development of rural passenger ferry boat models suitable for the characteristics of ferry routes in their jurisdiction, and guide the construction of standardized ferry boats. (II) Support the development of new energy and clean energy vessels. Implement the relevant notices to promote the healthy and safe development of electric vessels, support research and pilot applications of ship container power and other mobile equipment replacement models, and improve related ship technical specifications. After the provincial transportation authorities carry out pilot projects according to regulations, and after safety verification and necessary safety measures are taken, container power can be installed at port terminal lifting stages in accordance with ship equipment management regulations. Encourage regions with conditions to explore the comprehensive electrification of regional vessels. Accelerate the formulation of crew qualification standards and crew allocation policies adapted to the characteristics of electric vessels. (III) Strengthen the safety management of new energy and clean energy vessels. Ship inspection agencies at all levels should strictly implement relevant ship regulations and technical specifications to ensure the quality of new ship inspections. Maritime management agencies should refine the training requirements for electric vessel crew, urge companies to strengthen crew skill training, and enhance the emergency response capabilities of the crew. Accelerate research and improvement of operating procedures for electric vessel charging and discharging, requirements for emergency response plans for electric vessels, shore-based charging facility construction, and standards for methanol and other ship fuels. (IV) Accelerate the improvement of related supporting infrastructure. Provincial transportation authorities should strengthen overall coordination, based on the current status and trends of the development of new energy and clean energy vessels in their jurisdictions, promote the improvement of infrastructures such as refueling and recharging for ship new energy and clean energy fuels, and charging for electric vessels. The Yangtze River Navigation Management Bureau and the Pearl River Navigation Management Bureau should enhance the overall coordination of related supporting facilities in the Yangtze River and Pearl River basins. Office of the Ministry of Transport August 23, 2024 This article is edited from the Ministry of Transport, GMTEight Editor: Ye Zhiyuan.