The Ministry of Transportation and Communications should increase the number of ships using onshore power supply systems at the Port of Kaohsiung (高雄港) to 25 percent next year in a bid to improve air quality in the south, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆) said yesterday.
Lai made the remarks at a public hearing at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei aimed at urging government agencies and state-run utilities to present more effective measures to improve air quality.
It was convened by Lai and other DPP lawmakers, and was attended by environmental advocates from the central and southern regions.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
To reduce pollution emissions by ships using diesel fuel, the ministry is building high-voltage power supply systems at the port, Institute of Transportation Deputy Director-General Huang Hsin-hsun (黃新薰) said.
From 2020, it would also require all ships to use fuel whose sulfur content does not exceed 0.5 percent to comply with the global sulfur cap announced by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Huang said.
Lai urged the ministry to begin implementing the policies from next year, but a Taiwan International Ports Corp (TIPC) official said that would be challenging.
While boosting the use of onshore power is possible, it would be difficult — if not impossible — to require shipowners to use fuel with a sulfur content not exceeding 0.5 percent, as that kind of fuel is not even available in the nation, TIPC’s occupation safety department director Chang Wei-chien (張維鍵) said after the meeting.
Oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) might not introduce it until the IMO’s sulfur cap rule comes into force in 2020, Chang added.
Most ships currently use fuel containing 3.5 percent sulfur and switch to fuel with 1 percent sulfur when they pull in to port, he said.
TIPC cannot promote the policy of using low-sulfur fuel alone; Cabinet officials must take the lead, he said.
Given that air pollution in Kaohsiung comes from many sources, it is hard to ascertain how much of the pollution comes from the port, he said, questioning the Environmental Protection Administration’s claim that nearly 20 percent of the city’s air pollution comes from the port.
To present more feasible policies for curtailing air pollution, TIPC plans to take an inventory of pollution sources at the port, which it expects to complete by October next year, Chang said.
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