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 benefits were being released, Yichang initially faced multiple challenges. These included tight anchorage berths due to the concentrated arrival of old vessels, complex dismantling procedures, and the time-sensitive pressure of subsidies tied to the vessels’ remaining “countdown” age, which became obstacles for shipowners seeking to benefit from the policy. To resolve this dilemma, 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 in port to the completion of dismantling to within 5 days. By proactively compiling a list of vessels reaching the eligible age, coordinating with shipyards to reserve dedicated berths, and implementing measures like “direct access without waiting for anchorage,” they reduced the average waiting time for each vessel by 2-3 days. This successfully helped 9 vessels on the verge of “missing the deadline” catch the final policy opportunity, 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-breaking enterprises to establish green ship-breaking bases. This involved deploying oil booms, equipping anti-pollution materials, dispatching pollutant reception vessels to standby at anchorages, and ensuring shipowners delivered domestic sewage and oily water before the vessels were docked. 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 enabling the old vessels to be “reborn from the ashes.”
“Dismantling the old” further promotes “replacing with the new.” The dismantling of these 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.
