Sewage Disposal Management

Water resources are another issue that Yang Ming gives particular focus. The Company strictly complies with the water resource regulations stipulated by the Competent Authorities in business locations and the international regulations of IMO and MARPOL in terms of the use of water resources and discharge.

Water Resource Management Measures

 

Boundary	Management Measure	Description
Ocean ships	Ballast water treatment equipment	Please refer to Section 3.7 Conservation of Biodiversity and Marine Ecology.
	Vacuum toilets	The toilets are installed in the accommodation area of ships to reduce the fresh water consumption for flushing while lowering the volume of water delivered.
	Clean bilge water tanks	The tanks store clean condensation water produced by main engine air coolers to reduce the working load of oil-water separators.
Onshore business locations	Installation of water-saving devices and regular pipeline inspections	Faucets are adjusted to have the proper amount of water flow out each time to avoid wasting water resources. The purchase of products with Water Conservation Marks is prioritized. The pipeline is regularly inspected to see if there is any water leak. In case of abnormal water use, analysis is conducted immediately for improvement. Water bottles are placed in toilet tanks to save water.
	Water recycling	The headquarters in Qidu and the Kaohsiung Branch recycle RO waste water for watering of flowers and trees or for refrigeration and air conditioning. A rainwater harvesting system has been set up in the business building in Taipei to irrigate a variety of edible plants and landscape plants. It is expected to harvest 134 tons of rainwater per year and reduce carbon emissions by about 0.0073 tCO2e per year.
	Container washing wastewater management at the yard	Business wastewater: Wastewater filtration and separation equipment is installed in the container washing area. After the container washing water goes through the oil-water separation process and meets the effluent standards stipulated by the Ministry of Environment, it may be discharged into the sea. Relevant water quality testing and declaration are carried out every year, and are audited by the Ministry of Environment from time to time. Domestic wastewater/sewage: On average, about 40,000 liters of domestic wastewater/sewage is discharged into the septic tank every month. The Ministry of Environment is commissioned to pump night soil twice every year.
	Water resource education and promotion	Water conservation awareness campaigns are conducted quarterly. Environmental education and online dissemination courses are promoted to cultivate employees' awareness of water conservation and sustainability.
	Office wastewater management	The domestic wastewater/sewage and rinsing wastewater from the 2nd and higher floors of the building in Qidu are directly discharged to the public sewer of Keelung City, and those from the 1st and lower floors are pumped into the public sewer with the sewage/ wastewater pumps in the basement. Night soil is pumped from the septic tank at our building in Kaohsiung at least twice a year. The effluent is sampled at the discharge outlet according to the regulations (twice a year) for the statutory water quality testing items. The rain gutters are inspected from time to time, and sludge and foreign objects are cleaned immediately.

Water Use by Onshore Business Locations

Business Locations	2021	2022	2023
Offices Tap water（third-party water）	38.482	35.035	42.506
Yards Tap water（third-party water）	1.877	1.744	1.742
Total water withdrawal	40.359	36.779	44.248
Total water discharge	40.359	36.779	44.248

※ The water listed above is sourced from freshwater ( ≤ 1,000 mg/L total dissolved solids).
※ None of the Company's onshore business locations withdraw water in areas of water stress.
※ Yang Ming's headquarters building in Qidu and Kaohsiung Branch use RO systems to recycle part of the wastewater for domestic water use

Water Use by Ships at Sea

	2022	2023
Fresh water	196.566	198.440
Tap water（third-party water）	-	70.995
Total water withdrawal	196.566	269.435

※ The source of tap water is freshwater ( ≤ 1,000 mg/L total dissolved solids).
※ There are no statistics on water refilling in 2022, and there are no statistics on water discharge since no flowmeters are installed on the ships.
 

To reduce the purchase of tap water from third parties, all Yang Ming ships are equipped with water generators. The water generators use the jacket cooling water of the ships' engines as their heat source to heat, vaporize, and condense seawater into distilled water through vacuum distillation. When the water generators are operating, the heat of the jacket cooling water can be taken away to enhance the engine cooling effect. The fresh water produced by the water generators is mainly used for boilers and as domestic water, and the drinking water for seafarers is mainly refilled when the ships are at ports. All our ships withdraw water in areas with no water stress.

 

The water consumption of ships is divided into the consumption of machinery and equipment and the consumption of on-board personnel. Since there is no measuring device for measuring the discharged quantity, the Company's management measures are described as follows: Our ships' engine room bilge water must be treated with an oil-water separator compliant with the requirements of IMO and MARPOL. We have adopted coastal and port environmental protection policies stricter than those specified by MARPOL to carry out legal operations more than 15/25 nautical miles offshore. If the ships' speed meets the standard, oil concentration is less than 15ppm, and the location is not in the South Pole, the bilge water may be discharged into the sea. Greywater includes drainage from dishwashing, bathing, laundry, showering, and washbasins. At present, the treatment of greywater is not regulated by MARPOL. However, Yang Ming has set up or installed greywater storage tanks in a way that exceeds the requirements stipulated by MARPOL. In the future, we will equip all new ships with greywater storage tanks. For existing ships, greywater is not discharged into the waters within 15/25 nautical miles offshore and is stored in the greywater storage tank onboard.