Tag: India

The American P&I club surveys ship recycling - Progress In Leaps and Bounds The American P&I Club has published Currents- December issue including an article regarding Ship Recycling in the Indian Subcontinent and Beyond (Written by Shashank Agrawal, legal advisor of wirana shipping Corporation / page 14)According to the author, it is anticipated that in excess of 25 million dwt for scrapping will have wound up on the beaches of India, Bangladesh and Pakistan by the end of this year.Shashank Agrawal, legal advisor at Wirana Shipping Corporation in Singapore, describes recycling progress as being in leaps and bounds as the worldwide shipping industry struggles against some of the toughest times it has ever seen. Established in 1983, Wirana is the oldest cash buyer in ship recycling, and since then it has negotiated more than 1,700 vessels and delivered a total deadweight in excess of 48 million. The list continues to grow every day.Wirana purchases vessels on the basis of 100% cash. It then sells the vessel to a recycler in any one of the ship recycling countries. For vessels purchased "as is", the cash buyer takes over the ship at the delivery port and then boards its own crew to ...

Shippers should be given at least three-six months before the implementation The recession-hit shipping companies will get a breather if the cargo support scheme suggested by a Government-appointed working group is implemented.The group wants all shippers (exporters and importers) with more than a pre-specified annual turnover should compulsorily use Indian ships for carrying a third of their goods. Their export incentives will be linked to fulfilling the shipping criteria, said a member of the working group.The group has suggested that shippers should be given at least three-six months before implementing the one-third cargo support scheme. Currently, Indian ships carry less than nine per cent of the country's cargo. The scheme is expected to not only boost the cargo share of national carriers, but also will help expand Indian tonnage.Currently, India has a fleet of 1,119 ships of 11 million gross registered tonnage or grt.In container cargo, the share of Indian ships is only 3.4 per cent. Even in oil and petroleum products, in which national bottoms enjoyed more than 50 per cent share a decade ago, the share has come down to 15 per cent."The scheme will be a game changer for Indian shipping. It will automatically, increase the national ...

India and Australia to hold naval exercise and regional security issues Against the backdrop of China's objections to any activity in South China Sea, India and Australia Wednesday pitched for freedom of navigation in maritime areas.India and Australia discussed the prospects of holding a bilateral naval exercise, regional security issues and piracy at a meeting between Defence Minister AK Antony and his Australian counterpart Stephen Smith."Both sides agreed that challenges in the area of maritime security like piracy and freedom of navigation are important issues which required concerted efforts of the global community," Defence Ministry said in release.However, the Defence Ministry, in its release, didn't mention any specific maritime area.In the recent past, China had objected to any activity in South China Sea including Indian oil exploration activities there.In the discussions, Antony stressed India was looking forward to develop exchanges with Australia at both bilateral level and in multi-lateral fora such as the ASEAN Defence Minister's Meeting Plus.The Defence Ministry had recently made it clear that it was not keen on hopping on to any multilateral security constructs in the region excepting those under the UN flag or ADMM plus rejecting the suggestions of a trilateral security arrangement between India, ...

Inspection of FOC vessels at major Indian ports Indian seafarers and port workers plan to launch a joint campaign against poor working-condition of men on board of flag-of-convenience (FOC) ships.For a week from December 5, the volunteers of seafarers and port unions will inspect FOC vessels at major Indian ports including Mumbai and Jawaharlal Nehru ports. Their findings will be reported to the maritime regulator.The campaign, part of a global initiative by the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), is being launched in India jointly by three trade unions-Transport and dock workers union, National Union of Seafarers of India and the Maritime Union of India, statement issued by one of the unions said. The campaign is also against operation of sub-standard ships.A flag of convenience ship is one that flies the flag of a country other than the country of ownership. Such ships are generally referred as FOC vessels. These ships normally do not follow the manning norms, standard of maintenance and on-board working conditions.Shipowners go for FOC registration as the registration fees are normally low, they can employ cheap labour and the taxes will be nil or low."This is what makes the flag so attractive to shipowners" said a union ...

MV Assa has been moored for more than a month without explanation India's navy said it was monitoring an Iranian cargo ship, with armed men on board, which had been moored off the country's southern coast for more than a month without explanation.Shipping data showed the ship MV Assa was owned and operated by Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), a company facing sanctions from the United States and the EU."The vessel is there and the navy has reported to the concerned Indian authorities that there are men on board carrying arms," navy spokesman Commander P.V.S. Satish told Reuters.Indian newspapers reported the government had made an official complaint to Iran about the vessel, anchored close to India's Lakshadweep islands.Neither Iran's nor India's foreign ministry were immediately available comment on the report.The MV Assa was last plotted on Sept. 26 off the coast of Oman and India, AIS ship tracking data on Reuters showed.IRISL was hit with financial sanctions by the U.S. Treasury in 2008 for its alleged role in aiding Iran's ballistic missile development programme.Such measures are part of wider efforts led by Western countries aimed mostly at forcing Tehran to curb its nuclear energy drive, which they suspect ...

Sulphur limit in the fuel oil is reduced to 3.5% The Indian Ministry of Shipping issued a press release as follows:The Following regulations have been made mandatory for the international Shipping:1.Sulphur limit in the fuel oil is reduced to 3.5% from 4.5% applicable from 1st January, 2012.2. Sulphur limit in the fuel oil is reduced to 1% from 1.5% in Emission Control Area (ECA) -applicable since 1st July, 2010.The proposed regulation by International Maritime Organization (IMO) sets a 'Required Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI)' value to apply in four phases from 1st January, 2013 to 1st January, 2025.Government has approved ratification of MARPOL Annex VI so as to avail the waiver of the requirements of compliance with the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI). Parties to the MARPOL Annex VI have the option to waive the EEDI requirement on their ships for a maximum of 4.0 to 6.5 years after the entry into force.Ministry of petroleum and Natural Gas has been advised the requirement of the IMO regarding maximum limit of sulphur in fuel oil for ships.This information was given by the Minister of State for Shipping, Shri Mukul Roy in the Lok Sabha today in a written reply to a ...

After the state-run firm failed to carry out statutory surveys India's biggest dredging contractor, Dredging Corp. of India Ltd, or DCI, has lost safety certificates for four of its ships after the state-run firm failed to carry out statutory surveys.The Indian Register of Shipping, or IRS, a firm that verifies ships for sea worthiness, has de-classed the four dredgers, an act that prevents the ships from undertaking work or earning revenue.Dredgers are used to deepen and maintain the channels of ports and harbours."The impact of this is multi-fold," said P.P. Govindachary, a joint general manager (finance) at the Vizag-based DCI. "We will not earn any money from these dredgers during the period they are out of service, besides we will have to spend money on dry-docking."He would not estimate the extent of the potential revenue loss. DCI's revenue in the September quarter fell to Rs.119.4 crore from Rs.128.7 crore a year earlier. Net profit, though, improved to Rs.9.8 crore from Rs.2.89 crore.Statutory surveys are done twice every five years to ensure that ships are maintained as per the requirements of the International Maritime Organization, or IMO, the global maritime regulator. IRS is a member of the International Association of Classification ...

The Government plans to issue a notification imposing restrictions on ships, which are over 25 years India will soon become a party to two conventions of the International Maritime Organisations for having a strong legal framework to claim compensation in case of oil spills, ship wrecks and other accidents in the maritime sector.The country will accede to the Convention on Civil Liability for Bunker Oil Pollution Damage and the Convention for the Control of Harmful Anti-fouling System on ships, said the Union Shipping Minister, Mr G.K. Vasan.The Convention on Civil Liability for Bunker Oil Pollution Damage was adopted to ensure that adequate, prompt, and effective compensation is available to persons who suffer damage caused by oil spills, when carried as fuel in ships' bunkers. The other convention that Mr Vasan referred to prohibits use of harmful chemical compounds in anti-fouling paints used on ships. Mr Vasan's statement while inaugurating an international seminar on Towards Sustainable Shipping follows the recent oil leak from the Panama-flagged sunken cargo vessel, m.v. Rak, spilling over the coast of Mumbai. To commemorate the 100{+t}{+h} anniversary celebrations, the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers - Madras chapter, organised the seminar on the theme Towards Sustainable Shipping.Legal frameworkMr Vasan ...

Due to the poor market conditions Poor market conditions have forced the State-owned Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) to go slow on its proposed fleet acquisition during the present fiscal. The company plans to restrict its order to six-seven vessels during the present fiscal.Rest of orders - of around 20 vessels - will be placed during the Twelfth Plan (2012-17) period, Mr S. Hajara, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of SCI, has said here."We will place orders for additional 6-7 vessels of specific requirements during the year. Rest of the fleet acquisition plan will be executed in the next Plan period," he said.Lean period Mr Hajara was speaking on the sidelines of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of IIM Calcutta. The company previously planned to acquire 62 vessels in the Eleventh Plan (2007-12). Current estimates suggest that the SCI will end up ordering nearly 42 vessels.According to him, the shipping industry was passing through a very lean period due to slack in global trade and oversupply of fleet. Oversupply"Oversupply in the industry is to the tune of 30 per cent in dry bulk and container tonnage and 20-22 per cent in tankers," he said adding that there would be no revival ...

Forming a joint naval task force to fight the menace of piracy in the sea India on Monday pitched for a collective global strategy and a joint naval task force to fight the scourge of piracy, that could also include other powers like the US and China, and pushed for greater trade among countries surrounding the Indian Ocean.'There are number of issues that seem to bother us. Piracy on sea is one of them. It is necessary that all the nations in the region collectively work out a strategy to fight the menace, which cannot be fought by a single country,' External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna told reporters here Monday.He was speaking a day before the meeting of the 11th council of ministers of the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC), an 18-member body that was set up for promoting greater economic, security and cultural cooperation between these countries.Underlining the growing geo-political importance of the Indian Ocean, Krishna said it was necessary for all the countries in the region to make efforts to understand the dynamics of the situation and inject economic content in the evolving regional body.The meeting will discuss, among other things, forming a joint naval ...