Varun Shipping Co Ltd News

Mumbai-based shipping firm Varun Shipping Co. Ltd  will be split into two listed entities after the Bombay high court approved a demerger scheme. The Company announced that according to the Composite Scheme of Arrangement and Amalgamation, the Company will be split into two separate listed entities, namely, Varun Global (ship management and shipping investment business) and Varun Resources (shipping business). Both the hived off companies will be independently listed on the stock exchange. Currently these companies are in the process of completing the formality of allotment of shares. As part of the scheme, the debt relating to the shipping business have been transferred to Varun Resources…

Indian minister for shipping, Nitin Gadkari, says that was a dire need for restructuring of shipping companies’ debt and suggested the finance ministry to talk to banks for more flexibility towards the maritime sector. Nitin Gadkari, the minister for shipping, has requested the finance ministry to consider restructuring of loans for the debt ridden shipping companies and show more flexibility in bank lending towards the shipping and ports sectors. Nitin Gadkari also said that his ministry has recommended to the government to provide various tax incentives to the sector to make the industry more profitable. There should be more tax exemption for the sector to beef up companies' earnings. He pointed out that the registration of ships overseas is tax-free while in India it is taxed.

In ten years, India Shipping Summit held consistently in Mumbai, has sailed on a robust growth course despite the worldwide witnessing recessionary waves buffeting any endeavors to grow and gain. The reasons are not too far to see. From the very beginning it has been reputed to be a mega event of South East Asia. It sought consistently to bring government representatives and the leading lights of the industry on to a common platform thus acting as a beacon for the country’s maritime trade to move on the road to progress. It has continued to garner support from every section of the trade and industry each time the event has taken place. This year the three-day event held last week brought together a bigger gathering of shipping elites and the who’s who in the industry.

Climate, energy and demographics are to be discussed by industry leaders in Vancouver BC, when BIMCO, the world’s largest representative shipping organisation holds its General Meeting in the Canadian city in June this year. Issues of sustainability are never far from the thoughts of ship operators these days, especially when contemplating the purchase of new ships, which may well have a 25 year lifespan. Shipping people have to look further ahead than most, as they contemplate the future demand for their ships…