Government officials of Nantong city and Jiangsu province visit the site of the tank-cleaning station in Rugao on Nov 26. [Photo/ntfabu.com]

A commencement ceremony for two tank-cleaning stations was held in Rugao, a county-level city in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province, on Nov 26.

The stations, one located in the Rugao port area and the other in the Jianghai port area, are two of 13 tank-cleaning stations planned by the Ministry of Transport along the Yangtze River.

They are expected to be completed in March 2020, after which they will begin helping clean tanks for oil and liquid chemical carriers and collect and dispose of slop.

The stations will be built around existing infrastructure at the ports. The one in Rugao, which has received 22 million yuan ($3.13 million) in investment, will feature two sets of slop disposal equipment and a number of professional tank-cleaning machines. 

According to Wang Jian, general manager of a petrochemical storage and transport company that will be responsible for running the Rugao station, the company will recruit a third-party design team to help with construction in order to ensure the station is built to high standards.

The station is expected to clean 600 ships and treat 30,000 tons of slop annually. It will also feature a 24-hour monitoring system to control emissions from the treatment of slop.