China will establish the first Ship Emissions Control Areas in waters of the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta and the Bohai Rim to minimize airborne emissions (SOx, NOx,) from ships. The establishment of the areas will improve the air quality and environment of the coastal cities and ports and lay foundation for full control of air pollution problems caused by vessels, according to the Ministry of Transport.

The Emission Control Areas will cover waters surrounding nine cities of the Pearl River Delta including Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai and waters surrounding 16 cities of the Yangtze River Delta including Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Zhoushan and waters surrounding 13 cities of the Bohai Rim including Dalian, Qinhuangdao, Tianjin, Yantai. In addition, numerous ports including Tianjin, Qinhuangdao, Tangshan, Shanghai, Nantong, Shenzhen, Zhuhai will be defined as the core areas of the control. 

According to preliminary estimation, after the implementation of the plan, by 2020, the sulfur oxides and pollution particles emitted by ships will respectively decrease 65 percent and 30 percent from 2015 in the waters in the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta and the Bohai Rim. On the basis of assessment of the effect of ship emissions control area, China will further determine more robust control measures on ship emission before Dec. 31, 2019.