Tag: India

India has initiated several preventive/mitigating security measures to curb piracy Ministry of Defence had requested M/o Shipping to advice all Indian Shipping companies to adopt the Best Management Practices (BMPs) particularly with respect to the construction of a 'Safe House' or 'Citadel' on their ships for protecting the crew in the event of a piracy attack.M/o Shipping has advised the Shipping industry to adopt the BMPs which inter-alia include alarms, evasive manoeuvres, enhanced vigilance during watch keeping, control of access points and safe houses.Source: Press Information Bureau, Government of India

Armed Guards for Indian Ships An Inter-Ministerial Group of Officers (IMGO) has been set up to deal with hostage situation arising out of the hijacking of merchant vessels with Indian crew on board.The owners and flag administration of the hijacked vessels are contacted through Indian Missions abroad to ensure that they take suitable steps for the safety and early release of the hostages.The Government has issued guidelines on Deployment of Armed Guards on Indian Merchant Ships. These guidelines provide the criteria for owners to contract private armed security guards for deployment on Indian merchant ships, in cases where the owners desire to do so.The Government has initiated several preventive/mitigating security measures that are as follows:Notices by Director General of Shipping detailing elaborate anti-piracy measures (Best Management Practices) including safe house/citadel.Sailing vessels banned from plying in waters south or west of the line joining Salalah and Male.Naval escort provided by Indian Naval Ships in Gulf of Aden.Enhanced vigil by Indian Navy in Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).Guidelines for deployment of armed guards on Indian merchant ships issued.Joint operational exercises being conducted on regular basis among Navy, Coast Guard, Coastal Police, Customs and others.The intelligence mechanism has been streamlined through the creation ...

Control of substandard ships coming to Indian territorial waters Control of substandard ships coming to Indian territorial waters & endangering environment is exercised by the Indian Maritime Administration through the international accepted method of Port State Control (PSC). Mercantile Marine Department's Surveyors carry out Port State control Inspections on foreign Flag vessels.These inspections verify sea worthiness of the vessels & simultaneously verify compliance with various International Safety Conventions. When vessels are found in substantial non-compliance with applicable laws or relevant maritime convention requirements, the PSC system suitably intervenes to ensure that non-conformances are rectified, before further plying. India is a founder member of Indian Ocean Memorandum of Understanding (IOMOU). There are 13 members of IOMOU.This Regional cooperation of countries on the Indian Ocean rim also contributes towards the control of substandard ships plying in the region. In addition, the Government is actively considering banning the entry of Ships which are more than 25 years old.Source: Press Information Bureau, Government of 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 ...