Shanghai will ban hyper toxic freights on the Huangpu River and other inland waters, according to a new regulation about safe transporting and the management of hazardous chemicals, which will come into effect in April, China News Service reported.
The Regulation for the Safe Management of Hazardous Chemicals aims to impose strict and effective oversight in the production, storage, sales, transport, application and disposition of hazardous chemicals, with focuses on hyper toxic, inflammable, explosive and highly corrosive chemicals.
An effective regulation on hazardous chemicals is essential to Shanghai, which is a metropolis with highly condensed inhabitants together with industries, said Jiao Yang, a spokeswoman from Shanghai municipal government. "We have decided on many entries in the regulation according to recent hazardous chemical accidents both in China and in the world," she said.
The regulation asks that vehicles transporting hazardous chemicals be equipped with Global Position Systems. Regulatory authorities should also strengthen road transport safety by designating roads and zones for vehicles carrying hazardous chemicals.
The regulation bans ships carrying any hyper toxic cargo in Huangpu River and other inland waters. It also imposes navigational limits on tankers and bulk freighters with inflammable shipments, and requests more advanced equipment is used on these ships.
(Shanghai Daily February 23, 2006)
