SHANGHAI, May 18 (SMM) – To further improve air quality, China aims to overhaul bulk freight transport from road to rail, arriving or leaving ports in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta region and their nearby areas by the end of 2019, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said in an April release.
This move covers freight of iron ore, steel and coke etc. By the end of 2019, road freight transport arriving or leaving ports will be banned.
Some steel mills in Hebei, such as Shougang, Tangsteel, Chengde Steel and Yanshan Steel, have begun to shift their transport model, SMM learned.
Rail transport costs for steel rose about 100 yuan/mt. Costs for iron ore gained 40-50 yuan/mt, some mills told SMM. Mills also faced shipment shortages and a high ratio of fines in iron ore lumps. Transport efficiency also declined due to insufficient infrastructure capacity for rail freight.
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