Recently, the General Office of the Ministry of Transport ("MOT") has issued the Action Plan for Deepening the Supply-side Structural Reform in the Field of Water Transport (2017-2020) (the "Plan").
The Plan sets forth the objectives that the year 2020 will see the up-to-standard rate of high-grade channels in inner rivers reaching 90 percent, and witness an over 10 percent year-on-year growth in the number of containers jointly transported through the railway and the waterway at key ports; and that 70 percent of inland vessels will be standardized as regards their shape, with their average shipping tonnage increased to 1,000 deadweight tonnage. To achieve this end, the Plan ascertains 19 tasks, including improving the collection and distribution systems of ports, optimizing the river-sea transportation organizations, optimizing the structure of transportation capacities of vessels, fostering the coordinated development of regional ports, speeding up the construction of high-grade inland channels, accelerating the development of transportation by passenger liners and yachts, promoting the application of Internet Plus transportation and deepening the reform to streamline administration, delegate powers, and improve regulation and services in the field of water transportation. The Plan calls for updating the fee charging methods for ports, reforming the charging methods for tugboats and the mode of charging operational fees at domestic passenger ports and tourism ports, and doing well in the cessation of charging vessel registration fees.