(Yicai Global) July 25 -- Shanghai's shipping safety bureau has for the first time in China used a special drone to detect a polluting ship in the Yangtze River, slapping the shipowner with a fine. 

The owner of the ship, registered in Panama, paid the fine without a protest after the remote sensors of the unmanned aerial vehicle, which the Pudong branch of the Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration operated, found out that the vessel was using high-sulphur fuel, the Shanghai Observer reported. The ship was on its way from Nantong, Jiangsu province, to Busan in South Korea.

Ships that cruise in China's coastal areas should use marine fuel that contains less than 0.5 percent of sulfur, according to relevant regulations. The Port of Shanghai enforced the rule from April 1, 2016.

Editor: Emmi Laine