THERE have been four new fires at the Tianjin blast site where two huge explosions killed 116 and injured 700 on August 12, Chinese state media reported.

This news came after officials said safety hazards were found at 70 per cent of firms handling dangerous chemicals in Beijing, Reuters reported.

Xinhua news agency said rescue crews were rushing to the site after four new fires broke out. It said one of the "combustion points" was in a logistics site for automobiles near last week's blasts.

The other three were within the central blast area, it said without giving any explanation of the cause. The death toll rose to 116 from a previously reported 114. Sixty were still missing.

State authorities have confirmed that more than 700 tonnes of sodium cyanide blew up. The State Council ordered nationwide inspections of facilities handling dangerous chemicals and explosives.

More than 100 chemical firms across seven provinces have been told to shut down due to safety violations, regional governments have announced.

That includes 19 companies in Hebei province, 26 firms in Anqing city in the southeastern province of Anhui, two in the capital, Beijing, and 39 in Zhejiang province.

In Beijing alone, an inspection of 124 sites that stored dangerous chemicals found hazards at 85 firms, Xinhua said, citing Beijing's work safety bureau.

Pictures taken by Reuters showed workers scooping thousands of dead fish out of the Haihe river near Tianjin, a day after authorities had declared the city's drinking water was safe.

Tianjin officials said the dead fish were caused by regular seasonal low oxygen levels in the water and were not related to the blasts.

But authorities warned that cyanide levels in waters around Tianjin had risen to as much as 277 times acceptable levels.

Deere & Co, famous for making John Deere tractors, said that production has resumed at its facilities near Tianjin after the massive blast. The company said it was still repairing windows, doors and building components at its plant 10 kilometres from the blast site. 

One of the company's 1,300 Tianjin-based employees remained hospitalised, along with his wife, due to injuries they sustained while at home when the blast occurred, said Deere spokesman Ken Golden said. 

The ports of Qingdao, Lianyungang, Ningbo, and Xiamen have tightened hazardous cargo regulations or stopped dangerous cargo landing. Qingdao,

At Qingdao, all class 4.1 (except sulphur), class 3/UN 2058, class 5.1/UN2465, and class 5.1/UN2468 cargoes are not allowed for storage including import and transshipment. 

Qingdao handled 13.4 per cent of all hazardous cargo sent to the US in the first half of 2015 and received 7.4 per cent of all hazardous cargo exported from the US to China, according to PIERS data.

At Ningbo, a Material Safety Data Sheet, which provides guidance on how to handle or respond to an issue with dangerous goods, is now required on all such cargo transshipped via the port. Ningbo handled 13.8 per cent of hazardous cargo bound for the US in the first half and received 4.4 of all hazardous goods sent from the US to China.

The Xiamen Ocean Gate Container Terminal, which handled 3.6 per cent of all hazardous goods bound for the US and imported 3.4 per cent of all hazardous goods sent from the US to China, has stopped accepting all dangerous cargo export or import. Lianyungang has stopped accepting Class 1 and Class 2 dangerous cargo export and import.

French shipping giant has issued a detail advisory on the Tianjin situation, first assuring customers that vessel berthing and departure are back to normal. 

All terminals and off-dock depots in Tianjin are operating, but berth congestion, low productivity and longer port-stays are expected in coming days.

"Compared with past few days, more trucks are now running inside the port area. All CMA CGM group vessels have been able to call at Tianjin last week except the Xin Qin Huang Dao of our ASAF line. Export containers that are ready to load will be evacuated this week on CMA CGM Georg Forster, CPO Norfolk and the HS Onore," said CMA CGM.

Export and import of dangerous cargo containers have been completely banned by local authorities, but export and import of non dangerous chemicals is authorised. 

Containers within free demurrage (four days) still on terminals as of 8/8, have not been moved from the terminal.

Containers that could not be picked up within free demurrage (four days in Xingang), have been transferred to backyards (mostly adjacent to the terminal) which are 7-8 kilometres from the blast site.

"Containers selected by customs for inspection, have been sent to International Logistics Depot (customs nominated depot for inspection) close to the explosion area, we estimate that we have only long idle containers in this are area." said CMA CGM.

With the green light from Tianjin Customs, shippers now can deliver the container to terminal directly within contracted gate-in period, besides via off-dock depot under normal circumstance, and then proceeding further customs declaration process. 

Containers Load Ready on the terminal before 12.08 have been exported on vessels calling last week.