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Maritime modernization urged
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Winton Dong
AS the city's port handling capacity has grown, ensuring maritime safety and curbing sea pollution have become pressing issues.
So said Wu Xianji, director general of the Shenzhen Municipal Maritime Affairs Bureau at a working conference on Wednesday.
City officials have worked hard to guarantee maritime safety, but they still have a long way to go. In 1998, modern technologies such as vessel transportation supervision (VTS) and radar detection systems were introduced from Germany.
These advanced facilities now make it possible for local authorities to supervise 450 square kilometres of sea to the east and west of the city.
“The ability to organize timely and effective rescue efforts can be an important criterion to measure maritime safety,” said Guo Rongjun, vice-mayor of Shenzhen, who is in charge of maritime affairs in the city.
Curbing sea pollution was also emphasized at the conference.
It is said that every year more than 100,000 ships call at Shenzhen Port, discharging a large amount of sewage and waste while doing so.
Guo said that the city's law-making body will further revise its local regulation on curbing sea pollution, making them stricter than the national standards, thus tightening controls over waste discharge into the sea.
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