Submarine Begins Underwater Search for Missing Dornier Aircraft
The search for the missing Dornier aircraft of Indian Coast Guard and its three crew members is being augmented with underwater search by naval submarine, reports All India Radio. After six days of efforts to trace the missing Coast Guard Dornier aircraft, all eyes are now on the Navy submarine that started the undersea search operation for the plane. There were reports that wreckage of the Dornier aircraft was found but Coast Guard Eastern region Inspector General Commander S P Sharma later denied the reports. “We are awaiting communication from the submarine. At this point, we can’t come to any conclusion,” said Sharma in a statement.
India Approves Exploration Contracts
According to a March 19 report from The Wall Street Journal, India approved oil exploration contracts for Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC), the nation’s biggest energy explorer, and BHP Billiton Ltd as it sought to cut dependence on imports. The South Asian nation approved the award of 33 blocks, home minister P. Chidambaram told reporters in New Delhi after a cabinet meeting. (Source: The Wall Street Journal)
ShipDecision Technology Distributed in India
K. Chidambaram and R.K. Mohanty of MC HR Management Pvt. Ltd., and Mr. Albert R. Carbone of Stelvio Inc., Montreal Canada, announce an agreement which will see Stelvio’s ShipDecision software distributed in India. The two companies signed an exclusive distribution agreement during the INMEX 2009 exhibition being held in Mumbai, India. (www.shipdecision.com)
Shipbuilding Subsidy May be Revived
The ministry of shipping is considering reviving subsidy on shipbuilding to enable the industry to be globally competitive. Currently, ’s share of global shipbuilding orders stands a minuscule 1percent. The subsidy scheme had expired on August 14, 2007. T R Baalu, Union minister of shipping, road transport and highways, said the ministry is thinking of circulating a cabinet note on subsidy this week. The previous subsidy scheme provided a 30% incentive on the contract value of ocean-going merchant vessels more than 80 metres in length sold to Indian companies, and on all ships sold to foreign firms. A report by audit and consultancy KPMG on shipbuilding subsidies across the globe last year showed that Indian yards suffer a minimum cost disadvantage of 32-37% on the price of a typical ship.
