Recently, with the successful dismantling of the vessel “Heji 609” at Yichang Zhijiang Minwa Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., the first batch of 75 old commercial vessels scheduled for dismantling in Yichang City for 2025 has been successfully completed. This round of dismantling is expected to distribute subsidies totaling 220 million yuan, ranking first in the province in terms of amount.
As the policy dividends were being released, Yichang initially faced multiple challenges. The concentration of old vessels arriving at the port led to tight anchorage berths, the dismantling process was complex, and the time-sensitive pressure of the subsidy policy with its vessel-age “countdown” became obstacles for shipowners seeking to benefit from the policy. To resolve this predicament, the Yichang Maritime Safety Administration innovatively launched a “Green Channel for Ship Dismantling,” compressing the processing time for key steps from the vessel’s arrival at the port to the completion of dismantling to within 5 days. By pre-sorting the list of vessels reaching the eligible age, coordinating with shipyards to reserve dedicated berths, and implementing measures like “direct access without waiting for anchorage,” the average waiting time per vessel was reduced by 2-3 days. This successfully helped 9 vessels on the verge of missing the deadline catch the last policy train, potentially saving shipowners over 4 million yuan in losses.
Green environmental protection was a core requirement of this dismantling work. To prevent pollutants such as oil, solid waste, and heavy metals from damaging the water environment during dismantling, the Yichang Maritime Safety Administration continuously guided and regulated ship recycling enterprises to establish green ship recycling bases. This involved deploying oil booms, equipping anti-pollution materials, dispatching pollutant reception vessels to standby at anchorages, and urging shipowners to discharge sewage and oily water before docking. The dismantling sites achieved precise, efficient, and clean operations. Hull steel plates, engines, gearboxes, and other equipment were sorted and recycled, sent to relevant factories for resource regeneration, truly allowing the old vessels to be “reborn from the ashes.”
“Dismantling the old” further promotes “replacing with the new.” This dismantling of old vessels has freed up broad market space for new energy vessels. Driven by the “Two New” policy, the Yichang Ship Industrial Park, located within the jurisdiction of the Zhijiang Maritime Office of the Yichang Maritime Safety Administration, has experienced a surge in shipbuilding orders, with newly built vessels being launched successively. Since the beginning of this year, the Zhijiang Maritime Office has successfully ensured the trial voyages and deliveries of 51 vessels, over 80% of which are new energy vessels. These include innovative ships such as the nation’s first 130-type methanol-diesel dual-fuel collection and distribution vessel, and the Yangtze River Basin’s first pure electric multi-functional environmental protection vessel, strongly promoting the optimization and upgrading of the Yangtze River shipping structure.
