The government is offering subsidies to shipping line operators who voluntarily reduce the operating speed of large ships when they enter the nation’s seaports, with each ship receiving NT$8,000 (US$270) for doing so.
The program was introduced to curb emissions of air pollutants as part of the government’s efforts in addressing the deteriorating air quality in the southern Taiwan, the Taiwan International Ports Corp (TIPC) said on Wednesday.
The Kaohsiung-based state-run company said it has been encouraging large vessels to lower their speed to below 12 knots per hour when entering within 20 nautical miles of seaports since 2012.
However, most of them still sail 18 knots per hour, the company said.
Experiences in other countries have shown that ships can reduce their emissions better when they operate at 12 knots per hour or slower, TIPC said.
The budget for the program is NT$32 million this year, including NT$22 million from TIPC and NT$10 million from the Environmental Protection Administration, the company said.
International cruise ships and ships with a cargo capacity of more than 10,000 tonnes entering any of the nation’s international seaports would be subsidized if they meet the standards, it said.
Meanwhile, the Maritime and Ports Bureau has this year set aside a budget of NT$45 million for a trial program to encourage international shipping lines to switch to low-sulfur fuel when they operate close to sea ports.
Each ship that does so will be entitled to a subsidy of NT$5,000.
TIPC estimated that 5,000 tonnes of air pollutants within port zones can be cut through the programs, including 3,832 tonnes of sulfur oxides.
The subsidies would also help curb particulate matter pollution by 21 percent, it said.
Ships are also encouraged to connect to on-shore power supplies when they dock, instead of using their own onboard diesel-powered electricity systems.
The company said that ports are exempt from paying the electricity charge, adding that it is negotiating a discount with the Taiwan Power Co based on its large electricity consumption.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,