As the Spring Festival travel season commences, vessels shuttle back and forth across the Pearl River waters, carrying the reunion hopes of countless families. To ensure the sustained stability of waterway traffic conditions, the Guangzhou Maritime Safety Administration has launched a special campaign targeting major risk隐患排查整治专项行动 for Spring Festival transport waterway safety, focusing on key links in shipping security within its jurisdiction. Through a coordinated model of "enterprise self-inspection + maritime precision inspection," the administration has achieved comprehensive coverage of inspections for all shipping companies and key vessels in the region. A full-chain closed-loop management mechanism drives the clearance of hidden dangers, establishing a robust waterway safety barrier for the public's safe travel during this critical period.
The enforcement officers have concentrated their efforts on vessels' core navigation systems and critical equipment during the special campaign, strictly investigating various major risks and hidden dangers. A number of persistent issues affecting navigation safety have been effectively addressed. During inspections of vessels such as "Da Yun XXX," "Pingnan Huaxiang XXX," and "Tengxian Wanda XXX," defects were found in the main engine emergency shutdown devices, including failures or damaged buttons, rendering emergency shutdown operations impossible. As the "emergency brake valve" for a vessel's main engine, failure of this device means the vessel cannot quickly cut off main engine power when encountering sudden dangers, significantly increasing the risk of an incident escalating. The maritime authorities immediately ordered the ship operators to carry out repairs and debugging, testing the responsiveness of command signals, and detained vessels with severe defects. Upon re-inspection, all identified hazards have been rectified through a closed-loop process.
Faulty communication equipment emerged as another key focus of this inspection round. Law enforcement officers discovered that the very high frequency (VHF) telephones installed in the wheelhouses of vessels "Yue Yingde Huo XXX" and "Yue Shaoguan Huo XXX" were not approved by vessel inspection authorities, failing to meet equipment configuration requirements. The vessel "Hengyun You XX" was found to have the dual hazards of its Automatic Identification System (AIS) not functioning properly and its VHF being unresponsive. Serving as the "communication lifeline" for vessel navigation, VHF equipment is critically important during the Spring Festival travel period when vessel traffic surges. Non-compliant or malfunctioning equipment can prevent vessels from receiving maritime traffic management instructions and hinder collision avoidance communication with nearby ships, easily leading to traffic disorder and collision accidents. The maritime department mandated that ship operators replace the VHF equipment with compliant models, inspect antenna functionality and key channel communication effectiveness, imposed administrative penalties for related violations, and reinforced crew safety education to ensure the "lifeline" of communication remains unobstructed.
Furthermore, vessels such as "Kaixiang XXX" and "Gui Gang Sheng XXX" were identified with hazards like failures in the main engine telegraph system. Such core malfunctions, which directly impact vessel maneuverability, are intrinsically linked to navigation safety. The maritime authorities have urged the relevant vessels to complete comprehensive overhauls, ensuring that the command response of the main propulsion装置 is accurate and reliable.
This hidden danger investigation and rectification effort has established a comprehensive, multi-layered inspection system, with various data points fully reflecting the effectiveness of the campaign. During the enterprise self-inspection phase, the Guangzhou Maritime Safety Administration facilitated comprehensive self-inspections by 114 shipping companies within its jurisdiction, which reported 665 general hidden dangers and 17 major risk hazards and prominent issues; all identified hazards have been rectified and closed out. Simultaneously, it organized 56 units involved in underwater construction and operations to conduct specialized self-inspections, achieving full regulatory coverage for water-related projects in the region.
The maritime authority's precision inspections proceeded concurrently. Utilizing a combination of online screening and on-site verification, they cumulatively inspected 447 enterprises/vessels, identifying 2,031 general hidden dangers, 50 major risk hazards, and 3 prominent issues. The coverage rate of hidden danger investigations and the problem discovery rate have significantly increased compared to previous years. To ensure inspection quality, the Guangzhou Maritime Safety Administration also established specialized task forces to conduct targeted spot checks, completing in-depth inspections of 6 maritime offices, 12 enterprises, and 8 vessels. These checks led to the identification and rectification of 49 general hidden dangers and 9 major hazards, achieving dynamic clearance of risks and hidden dangers.
To ensure the effective implementation of the investigation and rectification work, the Guangzhou Maritime Safety Administration has strengthened high-level oversight, establishing a four-tier linkage responsibility system encompassing "bureau leadership - task force - headquarters - maritime offices." This structure effectively drives the transmission of safety responsibilities through each level and ensures the落地 of work tasks item by item. The administration has implemented a risk-based, categorized supervision approach for enterprises, applying differentiated监管措施 based on their risk level (high, medium, low). By combining incentives and penalties, it reinforces primary responsibility on the enterprises, recommending outstanding companies for commendations while imposing administrative penalties on 7 vessels for violations and detaining 13 vessels. It has conducted interviews with 2 enterprises with significant issues and organized targeted, "precision-drip-irrigation" style training sessions covering policies and regulations, typical cases, and hazard identification criteria. Self-inspection checklists for enterprise hazards and water project self-inspections were compiled and distributed. Relying on a "designated personnel, designated points" contact system, the administration provides全程 guidance to enterprises for standardized investigation and information reporting, significantly enhancing their capability for autonomous inspection and rectification.
"Building on this foundation, we have established a full-chain management model of 'data collection - record establishment - rectification supervision - verification and closure'," Lü Guodong, Deputy Captain of the Guangzhou Maritime Safety Administration's Law Enforcement Detachment, stated. They have also implemented a system of "one measure per major hazard, one responsible person per problem" for significant risks, promoting time-bound rectification through on-site supervision and follow-up验收 to ensure closed-loop hazard rectification. Furthermore, collaborating with the Municipal Port Affairs Bureau, they have conducted cross-departmental inspections and publicly exposed four categories of typical hazards, including failures of vessel main engine emergency shutdown devices and communication equipment malfunctions. This creates a strong deterrent effect, vigorously safeguarding waterway safety during the Spring Festival travel period.
The path of the Spring Festival travel is fundamentally built on safety. With a profound sense of responsibility and pragmatic work measures, the Guangzhou Maritime Safety Administration continues to deepen its efforts in hazard investigation and rectification. Through rigorous supervision, efficient整改, and precise services, it safeguards the navigation safety of the Pearl River waters, ensuring stable and improving waterway traffic conditions during the Spring Festival travel period, and escorting the safe journey home for millions of travelers.