Chinese ports must strengthen safety measures, the Ministry of Transport said Friday, one week after two oil pipelines in northeast China's Dalian Xingang Port exploded and spewed oil into the Yellow Sea.

Ports must perform checks and remove safety hazards ahead of the loading, unloading and transporting of oil and other hazardous chemical products, the ministry said in a notice on its website.

Ports must have emergency response plans to deal with possible accidents involving dangerous goods, according to the notice.

China's major ports -- those that handle 10,000 Deadweight Ton (DWT) ships and inland wharfs that handle over 1,000 DWT -- must finish safety evaluations before the end of the year.

Top class safety assessment organizations must conduct the safety evaluations, the ministry said.

Ports managers must conduct emergency response drills at regular intervals, the statement added.

On July 16, two crude pipelines exploded in Xingang Port as crude was being unloaded from a Libyan tanker. The tanker left the harbor safely.

The accident caused an oil slick on the Yellow Sea that was 430 square-kilometers in area by Thursday. The clean up of the spill continues.

Oil supply operations at Xingang Port resumed Thursday, according to the harbor authorities.

(Xinhua News Agency July 23, 2010)