Maharashtra Maritime Board News

The first ever Maritime India Summit in Mumbai has resulted in attracting investments worth Rs 82,905 crores ($12.5 billion), says the Ministry of Shipping. A total of 141 MoUs and Business Agreements were signed by various players in maritime sector including Major Ports, State Maritime Boards and PSUs like Shipping Corporation of India, Cochin Shipyard Limited, Inland Waterways Authority of India etc. Some of the major Indian companies who have signed agreements include the Adanis, Jindal, Vedanta, ESSAR, and Shapoorji Pallonji Company. One significant MOU signed relates to establishment of a greenfield port at Vadhavan, Maharashtra. Phase I of the project is estimated to cost around Rs 9167 crores.

The Maharashtra state government has given approval to its comprehensive Maharashtra Port Development Policy for creating better facilities around 720 km coastal region of the state. A decision to constitute the Maharashtra Port Connectivity Corporation has been taken for development of ports and related projects. The New Port Development Policy 2015 has been planned to synchronise with ‘Make in Maharashtra’ and ‘Ease of Doing Business’ policies. Policy covers greenfield ports, jetties, coastal shipping and inland waterways, shipyards, coastal economic zones and facilitation for maritime projects. The state government has announced sops including concession on VAT, stamp duty, electricity duty, port tax and tariff.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fdnvis has said that the state's proposed port in terms of traffic in Palghar Dahanu district will compete with the port in Gujarat Mundda, reports PTI. "There is natural draught of 20 metres to receive bigger ships. A feasibility study for a satellite port has been completed internally. At present, there is only one big port in Maharashtra — JNPT. The new port will be an alternative to JNPT to decongest ship movement," Fadnavis said. The Dahanu port is being positioned as a multi-cargo port and aimed at decongesting the country's largest container port Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT). State-owned JNPT and the Maharashtra Maritime Board had earlier signed an agreement to build the port, which will have a capacity of up to 100 million tonnes.

Built in its entirety at the Craftway Engineers boat-building yard, the 23-meter FRP boat is the first of 13 sophisticated composite vessels to be constructed on site in India. At Craftway Engineers, it is all about the customer, the company said. With a blend of creativity, commitment and innovative thinking, the Mumbai-based company specializes in the construction of tailor-made composite vessels, meeting the specific requirements of the customer. A member of the SHM group of companies, Craftway Engineers is rapidly developing the industry of FRP vessels in India.

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…