Gujarat Maritime Board News

After it last month said it would recycle its FPSO BW Cidade de São Vicente, FPSO owner BW Offshore has now agreed to sell another FPSO for scrap, this time the FPSO Umuroa.The company said Monday it had signed an agreement to recycle the FPSO Umuroa in compliance with the Hong Kong International Convention at Baijnath Melaram (‘the Yard’) in India. "The sale will generate USD 13.5 million in net liquidity. The yard is certified to ISO standards and has been issued with a Statement…

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform said that there were a total of 193 ships broken in the second quarter of 2019 and the 146 of these were sold to South Asian scrapping beaches. South Asian working conditions are known to be dire and breaking practices cause irreparable damage to the coastal environment, it added.Between April and June, Platform sources recorded three accidents that killed at least five workers on the beach of Chittagong, Bangladesh, bringing the total death-toll of the shipbreaking industry this year to at least eight workers.In the early morning of 15 May, a loud blast shook the Chittagong shipbreaking area. A fire broke out on board the vessel BUNGA KELANA 4 (IMO 9178343)…

The Government of India signed a loan deal worth USD 76 million with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), for a project to upgrade the environment management plan at Alang-Sosiya ship recycling yards. The total cost of the project will be $ 111 million, out of which $76 million will be provided as soft loan from JICA. Out of the remaining amount, $25 million as taxes and fees will be borne by Government of Gujarat and the balance $10 million will be shared by Ministry of Shipping & Government of Gujarat. The project will be executed by Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) and is likely to be completed by 2022. This project will help the Alang-Sosia ship-recycling yards to comply with international safety & environmental regulations.

All the hazardous waste generated in ship recycling at Alang are being disposed off in safe and environmentally sound manner in Gujarat Pollution Control Board authorized Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facility (TSDF) site operated by Gujarat Maritime Board. Landfills are constructed as per the Guidelines of Central Pollution Control Board and provided with liner system in bottom which prevents leachate to percolate to the sub-soil. Monitoring of environmental parameters is done by Gujarat Pollution Control Board regularly. Regular health checkup for the workers is also conducted by GMB. Environmental Impact Assessment is carried out whenever creation of new yards or expansion and upgradation of existing yards is taken up.

As part of its Coastal Community Development Program under Sagarmala, the Ministry of Shipping has sanctioned Rupees 10 Crore ($1.5 mln) as part of the first instalment to the Gujarat Maritime Board for capacity building and safety training of 20,000 workers involved in the ship recycling activities at Alanag- Sosiya recycling yard in Bhavnagar district in Gujarat. The total project cost is estimated to be Rupees 30 Crore over a period of 3 years. The initiative has been identified in the National Perspective Plan (NPP) of Sagarmala for the upliftment of the coastal community and aims to provide health and safety training to the skilled and semi-skilled workers which is required while performing their work at ship recycling yards.

Ship recycling practices in Alang, India, are gradually improving. The European Commission should acknowledge this positive development under the EU Ship Recycling Regulation. Adopting an overly restrictive approach will discourage first movers and further delay the entry into force of the IMO Hong Kong Convention. These are the main messages that ECSA took home from a fact-finding visit held last week in Alang, India. The visit was organised in cooperation with the Indian government, the Gujarat Maritime Board and the Ship Recycling Industry Association (SRIA) of India. Next to European shipowners, the delegation visiting the yards included representatives from EU Member States, the European Commission (DG Environment) as well as the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS).

Essar Bulk Terminal Limited, Hazira, a subsidiary of Essar Ports Limited, which is a part of Essar, has received an approval from Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) to handle 15 million tonnes of merchant cargo over three years. Based on this approval, the Hazira Terminal, in keeping with its design and capabilities, will be able to handle a range of cargo for merchant customers, including dry bulk, liquid bulk, containers and so on. The approval was granted under GMB’s captive port policy where jetties built on captive licenses can handle third-party cargo up to a maximum of 50 percent of the total cargo handled. This approval stands to benefit the local industry who will now have access to a modern port facility.

India will soon get its second maritime university, Gujarat Maritime University (GMB), which will primarily be focusing on the commercial maritime courses. According to sources, the first course likely to be rolled out in 2018. The government of Gujarat has already given an in-principle approval for the establishment of the university. The new Gujarat Maritime University will focus on commercial maritime courses instead of technical programmes that are being offered in over 130 Indian training institutes and the existing Indian Maritime University, say sources. A report in DNA quoted AK Rakesh, chairman and chief executive officer of the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) as saying: "At present, the Indian maritime institutes offer pre-sea and post-sea training programmes.

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform and Transport and Environment (T&E) have criticized Maersk Group’s decision to beach their end-of-life vessels in Alang, India. But, Four of the 167 ship recycling yards have won compliance status with a global regime that seeks to ensure that redundant ships are disposed of safely and in an environmentally sound manner, says a report in the Livemint. The recycling yards are located on the coast of Alang-Sosiya in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar district, the world’s largest stretch of ship-breaking beaches. The NGO denounced Maersk Group’s decision to beach their end-of-life vessels in India. The world’s leading container…

The Asian Shipowners’ Forum (ASF) visited ship recycling yards in Alang, India this week and took the opportunity to hold dialogue with SRIA, following the first meeting in March this year in Singapore, to exchange views on future actions to be jointly implemented. Purpose of this visit was to get the first-hand look at current status of Indian ship recycling facilities and to confirm actions that should be taken next for achieving green ship recycling. Throughout the visit, the ASF was convinced that advanced recyclers, some of which had recently obtained Hong Kong Convention Statements of Compliance issued by ClassNK, operated their services with close attention given to ensure the safety of workers and environmental protection in accordance with the Hong Kong Convention.

Port of Amsterdam signed a Letter of Intent (Lol) with Gujarat Ports Infrastructure & Development Co. Ltd, a subsidiary of Gujarat Maritime Board. The intention is to enhance trade between Gujarat and Amsterdam and intensify existing cooperation. The signing of LoI by AK Rakesh, Chairman of Gujarat Ports Infrastructure & Development Company Limited and CEO and Vice-Chairman of Gujarat Maritime Board and Anthony Van Der Hoest, Commercial Director-Logistics, Port of Amsterdam took place in Ahmedabad (Gujarat, India) during the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit. Attending the summit was part of a trade mission of several Dutch companies. Port of Amsterdam will increase cooperation in the development of ports in Gujarat state.

The working and living conditions at the shipbreaking yards of Alang, India, remain alarmingly poor, argues a new study published in the Economic & Political Weekly, an Indian Social Science journal. The research was commissioned and financed by the National Human Rights Commission of India (NHRC) and was coordinated by Dr. Geetanjoy Sahu from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). TISS’ findings are based on field work in Alang from April 2013 to May 2014 including interviews with 300 shipbreaking workers as well as stakeholders from the industry, trade unions and authorities.

Essar Ports Ltd. (Essar Ports), part of the Essar, today announced its unaudited results for the quarter ended September 2014. *Revenue for the quarter increased by 1% at Rs. 435.3 crore as against Rs. 431.6 crore during previous quarter (Q1 FY15)and  increased by 7% from Rs. *EBITDA for the quarter increased by 4% to Rs. 361.4crore from Rs. 346.8 crore during the previous quarter (Q1 FY15) and increased by 9% from Rs. *Net Profit for the quarter has increased by 4% to Rs. 96.1crore from Rs. 92.2 crore during the previous quarter (Q1 FY15) and reduced by 1% from Rs. *Earnings per Share as at Q2 FY15 were at Rs 2.25. Mr. Rajiv Agarwal, Managing Director, Essar Ports Ltd.

During the south west monsoon, the port conservator/port officer of Bhavnagar Port reserves the right to restrict the number of vessels arriving at Bhavnagar Port for loading/unloading purpose in inner anchorage, keeping in view the adverse weather conditon as well as tidal streams for the safety of the port and the vessel. As of now, during fair weather, maximum three cargo vessels are allowed at inner anchorage. Source: Gujarat Maritime Board

For enhancing the draft in ports or undertaking major dredging projects, India still relies on foreign dredging giants, a situation not likely to change unless the government comes out with a policy encouraging investment in the dredging industry. European dredging giants continue to make a clean sweep of all major Indian dredging projects, a market condition largely attributed to the lack of an environment conducive to encouraging Indian companies into large scale dredging. In short, there are no parallel “protectionist policies” in place like those that exists in several maritime countries. Big players in the India dredging market…

The new IMO convention on Ship Recycling and the EU Proposal for Regulation of Ship Recycling are being viewed with concern by ship recyclers in Alang, India. If these come into force it is possible this world’s biggest grave yard for ships will have to close down. Alang is considered natures’ gift to the Indian ship recycling industry. Located in Gujarat, on the West coast of India, the shipyards in Alang recycle approximately half of all ships salvaged around the world. Having come into existence in June 1983, Alang, today encompasses over 180 ship yards stretching across 11 km of the coast line and is presently engaged in dismantling over 150 ships simultaneously. During 2011-12, Alang had achieved a record 415 ships’ demolition.

Alang ship-breakers decide to keep their facilities shut in protest against the arrest of shipbreakers arrested for culpable homicide. Three ship-breakers were booked for culpable homicide after six labourers were killed in a fire on an oil tanker on October 6. Those arrested included the owners of Kiran Ship Breaking Company Ram Krishna Jain and Vipin Jain along with the manager Rajesh Jugud, reports 'The Times of India'. It was the first time that ship-breakers have been booked and arrested under these charges. If convicted, they face a minimum of three years jail and a maximum life imprisonment. Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) has sealed off the site of the tragic ship dismantling blaze as their investigation continues. Source: The Times of India

The Japan-backed ambitious $22-million plan of the Gujarat government to upgrade the Alang Ship Recycling Yard, which is the largest in Asia, has run into rough weather with recyclers finding the project environmentally and financially non-viablle, reports 'The Indian Express'. Alang Ship Recyclers Association has made it clear to the Gujarat Maritime Board that they are not in a position to go for the project that involves construction of a dry dock, improvement of existing plots and creating other facilities.

India's Dolphin Offshore Enterprises (India) Ltd (Dolphin), which provides offshore and onshore integrated services to the oil and gas industry, is reportedly considering entering the shipbuilding market, earmarking investment money for the project and eyeing two existing shipyards for acquisition, according to a report on http://sify.com. Gujarat Maritime Board has already allotted land at Jafrabad in Gujarat and the project will reportedly take off in about two years. Dolphin is considering positioning the greenfield project at the grassroots level to build smaller vessels of up to 100 metres (1,000-1,200 tonnes). (Source: http://sify.com)

Mumbai-based Garware Offshore Services Ltd., a company that offers ships for oil and gas exploration activities, plans to enter the shipbuilding business by setting up an exclusive facility for making offshore support vessels. This shipbuilding yard will be a joint venture with Norway-based ship manufacturer Havyard Leirvik AS, promoted by Havyard Group AS. Havyard Leirvik is a leader in making offshore ships, ice-breaking ships and other types of specialized vessels. According to the Shipyards Association of India, shipbuilding will entail an investment of about $76.1m by 2017. Reportedly, the venture could be 50:50, though nothing has been finalized.

Gujarat, India’s top maritime state by cargo handled at state-owned ports, is finalizing a shipbuilding policy that has set an ambitious target to grab more than half of the country’s shipbuilding market by 2020, an official at the western state’s maritime regulator said. The state will be the first in the country to have a separate policy on shipbuilding. A draft policy prepared by the government seeks to extend tax holidays to shipbuilding projects for five years. Such projects will also be entitled to the same fiscal and duty benefits as those granted to so-called special economic zone (SEZ) projects of the Union government, said G.R. Jadega, technical adviser to the Gujarat Maritime Board.

In its bid to cater to the international ship repair demand, private sector shipyard ABG Shipyard is planning to acquire ship repair units in the key shipping routes’ network, including Singapore and China. ABG Shipyard has already acquired a ship repair unit at Fujairah, UAE, for an undiscosed amount. The company is planning to develop Fujairah as a ship repair hub in a phased manner. The company has recently acquired a Canadian shipbuilding equipment facility for $ 5.6 million. According to shipping industry analysts, a vessel with 1,2000 DWT would cost $40 million to $50 million. At present, the company has an order book of Rs 1,700 crore.

A court-appointed panel has questioned French officials and environmental activists over the amount of toxic chemicals in the decommissioned Clemenceau, whose planned scrapping here raised strenuous objections from green groups. The Supreme Court Monitoring Committee has ordered the Clemenceau -- the former pride of the French navy -- to stay out of India's exclusive economic zone until the final report is ready. The committee chairman, G. Thyagarajan, said the body would present its final recommendations to a bench of the Supreme Court by February 13. Thyagarajan said his team was examining whether the Clemenceau, which left the Mediterranean port of Toulon on December 31…