A Green Tide Rising on the Shores of Bohai Bay—Decoding the Hebei Maritime Bureau's "Green Bohai Initiative" Practice Path

On October 29, the Hebei Maritime Safety Administration held a press conference for the "Green Bohai Action Plan (2026–2030): Hebei Chapter." As the implementation blueprint of the Ministry of Transport's Maritime Safety Administration's "Green Bohai" strategy at the sea gateway of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, this plan focuses on five key areas: low-carbon transformation in shipping, smart upgrades of ports, empowerment of industries near ports, comprehensive pollution prevention, and safeguarding mechanisms and elements. It systematically lays out 20 specific tasks, presenting a practical vision of green and low-carbon development in shipping between Qinhuangdao, Tangshan, and Cangzhou ports.

Mechanisms Lay the Foundation, Weaving a Dense Green Shipping System Guarantee Network

Systems are the fundamental support for green development. At the press conference, the progress of revising the "Hebei Province Measures for the Prevention and Control of Ship Pollution in the Marine Environment" became the focus of attention from various sectors. In Zhang Yunxing's view, from the Dangerous Goods and Pollution Prevention Division of the Hebei Maritime Bureau, the revision of this local regulation is not only an inevitable requirement to align with the national higher-level law but also an institutional upgrade responding to the practical needs of Hebei's port and shipping green transformation. "With the official implementation of the 'Code of Ecological and Environmental Protection of the People's Republic of China,' new industries like ship greening are rapidly emerging, and frontline supervision has encountered many new scenarios and new issues. The core of the revision work is to solidify the mature experiences gained by Hebei over the years in preventing and controlling ship pollution and to clarify the new requirements for green development, so that supervision has a basis, and shipping companies have guidelines to follow," said Zhang Yunxing.

As the core framework for vessel pollution prevention in Hebei, this revision not only aligns with higher-level laws but also highlights Hebei's local characteristics. The draft revision institutionalizes mature practices from local operations, such as the lead seal management of vessel sewage equipment and the registration of clean-energy vessels. It also provides systematic and detailed regulations for long-standing supervisory challenges, including the use of shore power, the disposal of wash water from exhaust gas cleaning systems, and the deployment of oil booms during the loading and unloading of bulk liquid cargo. Notably, provisions such as the full-chain information-based supervision of vessel pollutant reception, transfer, and disposal, the reporting of shore power usage, and the discharge control of wash water from open-loop exhaust gas cleaning systems directly address key pain points and obstacles in frontline supervision.

The implementation of the system relies on the support of a collaborative platform, and resolving the bottlenecks in shore power usage is a typical example. Currently, the Hebei Port Shore Power Usage Alliance is speeding up its formation and is expected to officially sign the alliance agreement by the end of this year. For a long time, mismatched ship-to-shore facilities, insufficient cable lengths, non-unified interface standards, and long waiting times for power connection have been challenges restricting the increase in ship shore power usage rates. After the alliance is established, it will integrate the efforts of major port terminal enterprises, shore power service providers, and shipping companies. Relying on the "Four Unifications" digital platform for shore power, it will tackle the full chain from facility standards, dispatch processes, to incentive mechanisms. At the same time, it will introduce incentive measures such as green credit ratings and priority berthing, allowing ships that "make good use of shore power" to enjoy tangible convenience, promoting a shift from "able to use" to "willing to use" shore power.

The "Great Joint Defense" mechanism for offshore oil spill emergency response is another institutional achievement of Hebei's cross-regional and cross-industry collaborative governance. After years of exploration, Hebei has established a dual-tiered oil spill emergency coordination system: one tier is the Bohai Sea vessel pollution emergency linkage and cooperation mechanism established in 2006, jointly signed by the maritime authorities of Tianjin, Hebei, Liaoning, and Shandong, achieving unified command, information sharing, and quick cooperation among maritime emergency forces across provinces and cities; the other tier is the "2+2+3" offshore oil spill emergency cooperation mechanism initiated in 2023 by Hebei Maritime Safety Administration, which collaborates with 2 maritime emergency centers, 2 petroleum enterprise emergency forces, and 3 research institutes, breaking industry barriers. These two mechanisms work together, ensuring smooth coordination in crucial areas like command dispatching, team collaboration, resource sharing, and technological support. During this year's "Green Bohai Cup" offshore oil spill emergency skills competition hosted in Hebei Province, 11 elite teams from the Bohai region competed on the same stage, serving as a concentrated test of the practical capabilities of this coordination system.

Improving Pollution Control and Building a Comprehensive Ecological Protective Wall for Bohai Sea

Green development, pollution prevention is the bottom line.

Starting this June, a special campaign to combat ship pollution across the four provinces and cities surrounding the Bohai Sea was launched simultaneously. Maritime departments in Tianjin, Hebei, Liaoning, and Shandong joined forces, targeting prominent issues such as ship-related pollution operations, atmospheric emissions, and waste disposal. By combining "traditional supervision + technological empowerment," they are building a solid protective barrier for the Bohai Sea's ecological environment.

This special rectification focuses on high-frequency pollution-related operations such as ship fuel supply and reception, pollutant reception, and tank cleaning. It covers multiple areas, including the loading and unloading of hazardous pollutants, shore power usage, volatile organic compound control, ship energy consumption, and carbon intensity management. It is the most extensive and comprehensive joint pollution control action in the Bohai Rim region in recent years. Unlike the previous mode of separate enforcement by various regions, this action adopts cross-regional information reporting, joint inspections, and cross-checking: for fuel supply units filed in different locations, inspections are conducted jointly by the maritime authorities of the filing and registration locations; for oil spill emergency equipment depots, the four regions collaborate on on-site inspections and emergency drills; and illegal activity information is shared in real-time, leaving no room for illegal acts to hide. In terms of enforcement methods, in addition to traditional on-board inspections and waterway patrols, technical means such as drone inspections and oil spill fingerprint databases are leveraged, creating an integrated "land, sea, air, and space" three-dimensional regulatory network.

The regulatory model of "smart algorithms + drones" is becoming a "sharp tool" for the prevention and control of ship air pollution. In the past, investigating whether the sulfur content in ship fuel exceeded the standard mainly relied on law enforcement officers boarding ships for sampling and testing, which was not only inefficient but also prone to oversight. Now, drones equipped with exhaust sniffing devices patrol the port area skies, while corresponding smart algorithms can analyze exhaust components in real time, quickly identifying ships with abnormal emissions. Law enforcement officers can then precisely board these ships for inspection, greatly enhancing regulation efficiency and accuracy. "It's equivalent to performing an 'aerial checkup' on ship exhaust; a single flight can detect suspicious targets, significantly reducing the blindness of enforcement actions," explained Li Yang from the Science and Information Department of the Hebei Maritime Safety Administration.

The comprehensive closed-loop management of ship pollutants from onboard to onshore is another critical line of defense in pollution prevention and control. To address potential regulatory gaps in the processes of ship arrival, transfer, and disposal, the Hebei Maritime Safety Administration has established a closed-loop management mechanism of "source reporting—process tracking documents—department notifications—monthly filing": Prior to receiving ship pollutants, the receiving entities must report to the maritime department to ensure the pollutants are genuinely brought ashore right from the source; during the transfer phase, the process is supervised entirely by the environmental protection department through a tracking document system; the maritime department regularly reports reception data to departments such as environmental protection and urban management to facilitate data comparison; the receiving entities file the disposal destinations with the maritime department on a monthly basis to ensure that every batch of pollutants is traceable and verifiable. The maritime department collaborates with environmental protection, urban management, transportation, and other departments to establish a joint supervision mechanism, with clear division of responsibilities, achieving a full-process closed-loop from receiving to final disposal for ship-generated wastes such as domestic garbage, oily wastewater, and sludge, effectively preventing false reception behaviors like "issuing forms without receiving."

New and Old Transformation Activates New Momentum for Hong Kong Aviation's Low-Carbon Transition

Reducing stock and optimizing increment are the core logic of green and low-carbon transformation in shipping. This year, the Hebei jurisdiction plans to complete the scrapping and renewal of six old operational ships that are highly polluting and energy-intensive. In the view of Feng Zhibo from the Ship Supervision Office of Hebei Maritime Bureau, the exit of old ships is not simply a matter of "just shutting down," but rather a combination of policy guidance and strict regulation, driving the transportation capacity structure to steadily iterate toward greener practices.

Regarding the support policies of concern to shipowners, Hebei Province is currently implementing the national policy of central subsidies for scrapping and dismantling old ships. Shipowners meeting the conditions can apply for subsidies through the transportation authority. The maritime department ensures full-service support, including policy promotion, business verification, and certificate cancellation: establishing an "one ship, one file" ledger for old ships to dynamically track the status of each vessel; strengthening regulatory inspections, strictly detaining old ships that fail safety and environmental standards, and strictly prohibiting "operation with defects"; providing shipowners with targeted policy reminders to explain compliance risks and subsidy policies, and guiding them to voluntarily scrap and dismantle their ships. "Some shipowners have economic concerns or face complex issues regarding ship ownership and debt relationships. We adopt tailored strategies for different situations," said Feng Zhibo. "We aim to strictly control the entry threshold to ensure that ships meeting the conditions are retired as necessary, while providing good service to help shipowners fully benefit from the policies."

While the orderly withdrawal of existing capacity is underway, the implementation of new green initiatives is also accelerating. On September 22 of this year, the Bohai Bay's first inter-provincial green low-carbon demonstration route — the green route from Caofeidian Port to Shandong Binzhou Port — was officially launched, marking a milestone achievement in Hebei's efforts to establish a green route network. The "green attributes" of this route are reflected throughout the entire process: in terms of transportation mode, promoting the shift from road to water and water-to-water transshipment to increase the proportion of waterborne transport in bulk goods; in vessel selection, prioritizing the use of energy-efficient green ships, managing them under a "one ship, one policy" system within the green ship registry; in port operations, implementing the "four direct" green access and "eight priority" fast-track modes to optimize the processes for ships entering and leaving ports, and reducing waiting times; during port stays, prioritizing the use of shore power to reduce emissions while docked. For shipping companies and cargo owners, this route not only reduces overall logistics costs but also helps businesses meet product carbon footprint requirements, enhancing their green competitiveness. Prior to this, Hebei's green routes were mostly concentrated among ports within the province. The opening of this inter-provincial route has created a green waterway logistics corridor for bulk cargo between Hebei and Shandong, filling a crucial gap in the green route network around the Bohai Sea.

The development of green industries in Lingang cannot be separated from the service and support of the maritime department. In recent years, multiple offshore wind farms such as Tangshan Laoting Puti Island and Xiangyun Island have successively entered the construction and operation phases, accelerating the development of offshore clean energy. Given the characteristics of complex navigation environments, numerous operation vessels, and high safety risks during offshore wind power construction, the maritime department has proactively intervened and followed up throughout the process: During the site selection and feasibility analysis stage, it conducted specialized assessments on the impact on navigation safety and optimized the layout of construction waters and navigation paths; during the construction phase, it reinforced the supervision of operation vessels and on-site cruising guard duties, standardized the operational order of construction vessels, and mitigated the risk of collisions between commercial and fishing vessels; after the project began operations, it continued to ensure navigation safety in wind farm waters, safeguarding the safe and smooth passage of offshore clean energy channels. In addition to offshore wind power, the maritime department has also provided regulatory services in areas such as offshore oilfield green electricity replacement and seawater hydrogen production, promoting the deep integration of Lingang industries and green shipping.

“The ‘Green Bohai Movement’ Hebei chapter is a systemic and strategic project aimed at supporting the realization of the national ‘dual carbon’ goals, implementing the Ministry of Transport’s specific deployment of ‘one network and four modernizations’, strengthening the ecological safety barrier of Bohai Sea, and empowering the high-quality development of Hebei's port navigation and marine industries,” said Wu Wei, Party Secretary and Director of Hebei Maritime Safety Administration. From building a foundation through institutional measures to improving governance efficiency and enabling industries, the practices of the Hebei chapter of ‘Green Bohai Movement’ are a vivid epitome of green development in Bohai Sea shipping.

As the core gateway to the sea for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Hebei's three major ports not only bear the responsibility of transporting national energy materials but also carry the mission of protecting the ecological environment of the Bohai Sea. With one initiative after another being implemented effectively, the air in the port areas of Bohai Bay is fresher, the sea surface cleaner, and the green foundation of the port and shipping industry even stronger. In the future, Hebei Maritime Bureau will continue to deepen coordination and collaboration with maritime units around the Bohai Sea, steadily advancing along the green shipping pathway. This will inject blue low-carbon energy into building a strong economic province and a beautiful Hebei, while contributing replicable and promotable Hebei experiences to the green transformation of shipping in the Bohai Sea region.