The municipal government of Tangshan in China’s Hebei Province has announced that, due to anticipated increases in air pollution, it has decided to implement heavy air pollution emergency response measures effective from 00:00 on March 1 until 08:00 on March 6.
In particular, sintering machines belonging to category A and located outside the urban area will halt 40 percent of their capacities, while they will halt 50 percent of their capacities if located within the urban area. In addition, category B sintering machines will halt 60 percent of their capacities, while category C sintering machines will halt 70 percent of their capacities. Category D sintering machines will completely shut down production for the period in question.
At the same time, category A coking plants are required to extend coke carbonization periods to at least 28 hours, while category B and C coking plants are required to extend coke carbonization periods to at least 36 hours, which will have the result of reducing coke output.
Meanwhile, enterprises engaged in mining and ore crushing shall cease production.
During the given period, vehicles used for collection and distribution are not allowed to enter or leave the port area, and, similarly, transportation vehicles are not allowed to enter or leave factory facilities in the iron and steel, coking, non-ferrous metals, power supply and chemical industrial sectors.