The worst sea ice in three decades on China's eastern coast is expected to melt in March, a senior official from the national ocean agency said yesterday.

"So far, about 35 percent of the water in the Bohai Sea has been covered with ice, about 16 percent less than the peak in mid-January," said Lin Shanqing, director of the forecast and disaster relief department of the State Oceanic Administration (SOA).

But transportation departments should pay extreme attention to security during the ice-melting season in late February and early March, during which floating ice will endanger passing ships, he said.