The Indian Express News

Japan may help India in boosting the country's ship recycling industry. It is learnt that a 14-member Japanese delegation comprising representatives from government departments and shipping industry association, who visited Alang-Sosiya ship recycling yard in Bhavnagar (Gujarat, India) expressed its willingness to aid improving the facility there. The Ship Recycling Yard at Alang located near Bhavnagar in Gujarat State on the western coast of Gulf of Cambay is claimed to be the largest ship recycling yard in the world, in terms of number of ships being dismantled. Indian Express, a prominent newspaper in the country quoted Mitsuhiko Ida…

Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd (GRSE)  is trying to get a toehold in the international market, eyeing orders worth $425 million to supply warships to the navies of the Philippines and Vietnam. A Kolkata-based shipyard will enter into the global warship market by bidding to the navies of the Philippines and Vietnam in the coming months, according to a report from Indian Express. Garden Reach Ship Builders will be competing with European and Korean firms in the run-up to the `2,000 crore tenders, to supply two frigates to the Philippines navy. Garden Reach Ship Builders  officials claim that negotiations are underway with the Vietnamese navy to supply four warships worth `600 crore.

Indian shipyards will commission five warships each year in the next five years, reports 'The New Indian Express', citing Defence Minister A K Antony, who added that the challenges faced by the shipbuilding industry led it to look towards the defence sector for orders. The Defence Minister made these remarks after commissioning the Coast Guard Ship Abheek -- the second fast-patrol vessel of the Indian Coast Guard designed and built by Cochin Shipyard Ltd., pointing out that as the resources on land were getting depleted at a rapid pace, nations were turning to oceans for sustenance. The newspaper adds that the Abheek is propelled by water jet with a maximum speed of 33 Knots and an endurance of 1…

In a courtroom drama the captain of the Korean ship told the court the abandoned ship's engine room was flooded and there was danger of a capsize. MV OSM Arena had been anchored off the Port of Chennai since February 2010 following cases filed by different parties against the owners in the Calcutta and Madras high courts to recover their dues, and it has been under ‘arrest’ since September 2012, reports The New Indian Express. When a matter pertaining to the sale of the ship came up before Justice R Sudhakar at the Madras High Court, the captain of the vessel, Yethi Ka, made a surprise appearance before the judge. Yethi Ka told the court he had abandoned the ship on Tuesday morning and reached the shore using a fishing boat that was passing by.

Malayali engineer Arun George Thomas, evacuated from an India-flagged ship off Goa coast after father obtained a court order. The evacuation was based on a High Court directive following a Habeas Corpus petition filed by Arun’s father who alleged that Arun was being illegally detained in the ship, reports The New Indian Express. Arun told Thrikkakara police that after he joined the ship in November from Sharjah, he came to know that it was not sea worthy and hence wanted to quit. But the authorities aboard threatened him and he was forced to continue on the ship, though the company later promised to relieve him in UAE, he was not released and the ship set sail for Singapore on Dec 6. The ship then broke down 8 nautical miles off the Goa coast.

Agreeing that Italian ship Enrica Lexie is not the “object of crime”, the Supreme Court has allowed the detained vessel to leave Indian waters and continue with its voyage nearly three months after two marines on board allegedly shot dead two Indian fishermen, mistaking them for pirates, reports 'The Indian Express'. A Bench of Justices R M Lodha and H L Gokhale passed the order freeing the ship after the vessel’s owners and Italian government assured the court that they would secure the presence of six crew members and four remaining marines as and when required by any Indian court or lawful authority for investigation or trial. The marines, of course, have the right to contest any such summons before a competent court in India, the court clarified.

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.

According to a report from The New Indian Express, the Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) on Friday said the strike by the workers of the contractors was affecting the normal operations, including strategic naval projects, shipbuilding and ship repair work at the yard.   Source: The New Indian Express

The Indian Coast Guard is in the process of acquiring a fleet of modern, high-speed boats to patrol sensitive stretches of the coastline. A proposal to purchase 15 boats is expected to come up for approval on Thursday. The proposal is part of the government's ambitious Coastal Security Plan, which envisages a multi-pronged approach by the Coast Guard, Navy and security agencies in the form of marine police stations, outposts and checkposts with high speed boats for more effective patrolling. Sources said the process for getting these high-speed boats with speeds upto 25 knots is likely to take at least six months and the Coast Guard is likely to begin inducting these vessels into their fleet towards the end of this year.

Last October, Tehran linked its energy dialogue to India’s nuclear diplomacy asking New Delhi to support Iran in the next meeting of the IAEA board of governors in November. That November meeting saw no vote and now Iran is back to flexing its energy muscle ahead of the crucial IAEA meeting this week, the Indian Express reported. After having signed a Sale Purchase Agreement (SPA) last June to export 5 million tons per annum of LNG to India at a price linked to $31-per barrel crude, the National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC) told India that the price agreed to in that pact is no longer valid. This despite the fact that Tehran never raised the issue of a price hike even when international crude had touched $68 a barrel last August.