In view of the Regulations on Prevention against Air Pollution Caused by Vessels in Appendix VI of MARPOL73/78 which took effect in May 2005, the Company got in touch with every relevant counterpart while assisting to compile the COSCO Vessel Pollution Prevention Management Manual. The Company kept close touch with classification societies such as Lloyds, ABS and CCS, formulating relevant procedures, conveying instructive information on contract fulfillment, carrying out careful study and research, issuing subjects on top-classified safety information, instructing the staff on land and the crew on board to fulfill the contracts, so as to get IAPP certificate or the compliance certificate.
a) Improvement of combustion furnaces
After Appendix VI of MARPOL 73/78 took effect in May 2005, IAPP certificate must be applied for in the first dock reparation after the date of effect. Sine there were certain deficiencies in the combustion furnaces of the vessels with keels installed after January 1, 2000, which could not fully meet the requirement of Chapter 16, Appendix VI of the Convention, certain air pollution might be caused. For this reason the Company allocated the special money for updating the combustion furnaces installed in the mentioned vessels. The work of updating was accomplished within the regulated time. The vessels got the IAPP certificate after meeting the requirements of the convention.
b) RefrigerantR134a applied in the vessel refrigerating box
The layer of ozone exists in the stratosphere of the atmosphere 11 to 48 kilometers above the earth. Ozone O3 , making up 90% of the gases in the stratosphere, effectively absorbs the solar ultraviolet harmful to creatures on land. Without the layer of ozone, the intensive radiation of the ultraviolet would not only kill human beings but cause most species on the earth to extinct. The layer of ozone, therefore, is the essential nature barrier for human beings and the ecological system on the surface of the earth. In order to protect the layer of ozone, to prevent human being from the radiation of the solar ultraviolet and to maintain the balance of the ecological system on the earth, the UN formulated the Vienna Convention on Ozone Layer Protection in 1985, the Montreal Protocol on Ozone-consuming Materials in 1987. The use-forbidden deadline and requirement regarding the ozone-consuming materials were posed after the further adjustment and revision made by the 9th meeting of the treaty powers held in Montreal, Canada from September 15 to September 17, 1997. Freon (R-12 or R-22) applied as refrigerant can exist in the atmosphere for 60 – 130 years. Though the released volume of Freon is relatively small, Freon will damage and gradually reduce the layer of ozone in the stratosphere as one chlorine atom may destroy more than 100 thousand ozone molecules. The Company started to improve and replace the Freon-applying refrigerating containers in 1999, gradually replacing Freon R-12 with higher ozone destroying index by Freon R-22 with lower ozone destroying index and finally applying Refrigerant R134a with 0 ozone destroying index. By the end of June 2004, all the refrigerating containers of the Company had been filled with Refrigerant R134a.
