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Tianjin Dongjiang Port Ruihai International Logistics (??????????????????), or

Ruihai Logistics (????), is a privately held logistics company established in 2011.
It handles hazardous chemicals within the Port of Tianjin, such as flammable &
corrosive substances, oxidizing agents, and toxic chemicals. The company, which
employed 70, is designated by the Tianjin Maritime Safety Administration (?????) as
an approved agent for handling these hazardous chemicals at the port,[8] and its
operating license was renewed two months prior to the explosions.[9] Its 46,000-
square-metre (500,000 sq ft) site contains multiple warehouses for hazardous goods,
a fire pump and a fire pond.[10]
The warehouse building, owned by Ruihai Logistics, is recorded in a 2014 government
document as being a hazardous chemical storage facility for calcium carbide, sodium
nitrate, and potassium nitrate.[11] Safety regulations requiring that public
buildings and facilities should be at least 1 kilometre away were not followed, and
local inhabitants were unaware of the danger.[9][12] The authorities stated that
poor record keeping, damage to the office facilities and "major discrepancies" with
customs meant that they were unable to identify the substances stored.[13] State
media revealed that Ruihai had only received its authorisation to handle dangerous
chemicals less than two months earlier, meaning that it had been operating
illegally from October 2014, when its temporary license had expired, to June 2015.
[14][15]