China safeguards coal supply

Source: CCTV.com | 02-02-2008 14:03

The unprecedented weather in southern China has reduced coal supplies there to a critical level. The country is trying its best to guarantee enough coal reaches the places it's needed.

North China's Shanxi Province, a major energy supplier for the country, has launched an emergency plan to ensure coal supply.

Chen Chuanping, vice governor of Shanxi Province, said, "At present time we need to meet the demands of the affected areas first."

Hao Fang said, "At Du Erping Coal Mine in Shanxi, coal production has reached its peak. The speed of the conveyor belt behind me has been increased by one meter per second, that's a forty percent increase in coal transmission efficiency."

The country's biggest production base of coking coal, Shanxi Coking Coal Group, has increased the supply of thermal coal, while decreasing the more profitable coking coal supply.

The Taiyuan Railway Bureau is vowing to ensure a daily thermal coal delivery of 13-thousand carriages, nearly half of the whole country's delivery. The Datong-Qinhuangdao Railroad has been carrying around one million tons of thermal coal to the north China port city Qinhuangdao. The railways will deliver to power plants with coal shortages first.

In north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, power plants spare their coal reserve to support disaster hit areas in the south.

The Zhengzhou Railway Bureau is responsible for 90 percent of thermal coal transportation for the Central China electricity grids. The bureau has started express coal trains and increased train loads to guarantee the smooth transportation of coal.

Editor:Zhang Ning