The Ministry of Transport ("MOT") has recently issued the Opinions on Strengthening the Operating Security Management of Navigation Structures and Shipping Hub Dams (the "Opinions").
The Opinions expound on requirements in seven aspects, including establishing and improving the work safety responsibility system, propelling the building of mechanisms for safety risk management and treatment of hidden dangers, and ramping up safety management in key processes and fields. Among others, the Opinions require thorough fulfillment of primary responsibilities for safety. Operators of navigation structures and shipping hub dams shall bear the primary responsibility for the operating safety of the navigation structures and shipping hub dams under their management. Meanwhile, the Opinions stress the need to carry out special programs to eliminate hidden risks and reinforce shipping hub dams. Through thorough surveys of the real situations, the departments of waterway administration shall arrange for the operators of shipping hub dams to conduct safety evaluations as required and complete such evaluations by the end of June 2020. In case the shipping hub dams are identified as Class III or Class II dams, their operators shall timely take relevant measures, such as reinforcing the structures to eliminate potential dangers, lowering the level of service, or filing an application for disuse and reconstruction; they are also required to work out emergency measures aimed at sustaining the dams and restrict the use of the problematic dams, before the ultimate solutions are delivered or completed.