Shanghai takes no chances

From now until a fortnight after the Expo has finished they’ve ordered stronger supervision of port operations involving flammable or dangerous goods.

The strengthened security stance is seen as vital contribution to the safe running of the Expo event, which is expected to attract 70m visitors and have contributions from 200 countries, and which is why officials have warned of a crackdown on anything connected to the handling of dangerous goods – from falsely or partly reported cargoes, to concealed and secretly-carried material.

And the ruling includes a complete ban on port operations for explosives, peroxides, radioactive materials and acids in all Shanghai ports and terminals with the exception of Yangshan port.

To enforce the ban the Shanghai Municipal Transport and Port Authority will issue no further accreditation for the handling of dangerous goods until the event is over at the end of October this year. And for movements already sanctioned, it’s planned to collect weekly reports of all movements – unless security it stepped up still further, in which case reporting frequency will rise to daily.

All port operations units have been warned to be certain the fully understand the importance of safe operations of dangerous goods throughout the World Expo, to clearly define job responsibilities, and make sure all safety measures are correctly implemented – all moves to ensure the safety management system is correctly operated.