More needs to be done to raise Shanghai's capability to deal
with oil pollution at sea, an official from the Shanghai maritime
administration (SMA) said yesterday.
"As an international shipping center, Shanghai needs more
investment to build up its capacity in coping with oceanic
emergencies," Chen Xiaoguang, director of the pollution prevention
department of the SMA, said after the administration announced the
purchase of an automatic oil skimmer barge for Shanghai Port.
The barge will be put into use on the upper reaches of the
Huangpu River, where the city's water source is located. The 10 m
long, 3 m wide vessel travels at 25 nautical miles an hour and can
retrieve 36 cu m of spilt oil an hour.
"It will significantly raise our efficiency in recovering spilt
oil," Chen said.
"We have drawn up a plan to build an emergency equipment
storehouse, so we will be better equipped to cope with sea
pollution," he said.
Figures from the local port and shipping bureau show Shanghai
has been the world's busiest port in terms of cargo throughput for
the past three years. Last year it handled 560 million tons, up
more than 4 percent on 2006.
However, Chen said that increased capacity also means increased
risk.
"As capacity increases, there looms the greater possibility of
accidents," he said, citing the oil spill incident of Aug 5, 2003,
which took three days to clear.
"Companies must be aware of the need for environmental
protection and get involved in the process," he said.
(China Daily February 21, 2008)
