Hunan, China — China is set to tighten its sulfur-limit restrictions for ships by extending the 0.5% bunker fuel sulfur limit from the initially designated Emission Control Areas (ECAs) to the entire coastline, industry sources told Platts. Receive daily email alerts, subscriber notes & personalize your experience. Register Now In view of the rising concerns over environmental pollution, tightening sulfur-limit restrictions is no surprise, a Beijing-based coal trader noted, adding that coastal shipowners will have to bear the brunt, and in turn, may be forced to raise coastal freights. Meanwhile, rising coal imports may continue to pressurize China’s domestic coal market and subsequently the coastal coal freights market, a Shandong-based trade noted. That is, coastal shipowners may have to tread cautiously before hiking coal freights. Despite the restrictive measures taken by the government, China imported 271 million mt of crude coal in the first 11 months of 2018, up […]