China tightens rules on road transport of dangerous goods

BEIJING -- Nearly 3 million metric tons of dangerous goods are transported across China every day, and authorities planned to make the transportation safer through stricter rules.

A new set of measures for the safety management of road transport of dangerous goods will take effect on Jan 1, 2020.

The measures, issued by six departments including the Ministry of Transport (MOT) and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, are aimed at strengthening the whole-chain management, from the loading and transportation of dangerous goods, to the safety of vehicles and education and training of workers in the industry.

By the end of 2018, China had about 12,300 road transportation enterprises dealing with dangerous goods, involving about 373,000 vehicles and 1.6 million employees, said Wu Chungeng, spokesperson of the MOT.

About 70 percent of dangerous goods are delivered via road transportation, Wu said.