Objectives To investigate the sanitation and environment pollution of old barges entered for repairing in Nanwei port, and to explore supervision and management measures.

Methods Analyzing the problems of sanitation and environmental condition resulted from the repairing business on the entry of old barges in Nanwei port from the later half year of 2010 to the early half year of 2011.

Results The old barges with poor health conditions accounted for 34% and those carried with medical vectors accounted for 6%; they were also polluted with heavy metals and garbage.

Conclusions Repairing the entered old barge had an impact not only on our environment, but also increased the risk of spreading epidemic diseases from other countries. Strengthening the supervision and management for the business on repairing the entered old barges is needed.