HMAS Newcastle’s capabilities proved invaluable during a complex warfare scenario involving Indian Navy Ships Shivalik and Kamorta during the Australia-India Exercise (AUSINDEX) held off the Western Australian coast. The ships headed out to sea, after a short harbour phase, to focus on the navies’ interoperability and improvement on their war fighting skills. Speaking from the bridge of Newcastle, Commanding Officer Commander Mark Sirois said AUSINDEX was an excellent opportunity to see both navies working together.

The first indigenously built Floating Dock (FDN-2) for the Indian Navy was launched on 20 June 2017 by Smt Anjali Deshpande, wife of Vice Admiral DM Deshpande, AVSM, VSM, Controller of Warship Production & Acquisition at an impressive ceremony at Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T) Shipyard at Kattupalli near Chennai. After formal welcome by Vice Admiral B Kannan (Retd), PVSM, AVSM, VSM, Head of Ship Building, L&T the ceremony commenced with an address by the Chief Guest, Vice Admiral DM Deshpande, AVSM, VSM, Controller of Warship Production & Acquisition.

Three Indian warships sailed into Fremantle to participate in a week-long naval exercise off the Western Australian coast. Exercise Australia India is a regular bilateral maritime exercise aimed at developing a deeper understanding and cooperation between the two navies. Commander Australian Fleet, Rear Admiral Stuart Mayer, said the Exercise was a concrete example of India and Australia working more closely together to increase maritime security. “Australian and India share a commitment to a stable and prosperous Indian Ocean region,” Rear Admiral Mayer said.

In pursuance of India’s ‘Act East’ policy, Eastern Fleet under the command of Rear Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta, YSM, VSM, the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet are on an overseas deployment to the South East Asia and Southern Indian Ocean. Indian Naval Ships Jyoti, Shivalik and Kamorta are on a port visit to Freemantle, Australia from 13 June to 17 June 2017. Vice Admiral HCS Bisht, PVSM, AVSM, ADC, Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Naval Command is also visiting Freemantle during the period.

CMA CGM has announced the launch starting July 2 of its new service between the East Mediterrane an, Djibouti, Arabian Gulf, Pakistan and India. The service is one of the fastest between these strategic zones and connects CMA CGM hubs in the Mediterranean and the Arabian Gulf. INDIAMED will complement our MEGEM (East Mediterranean to/from Middle East) and MEDEX (West Mediterranean to/from Middle East & Indian Sub-Continent) offering synergies between services to allow an improved port coverage of these areas and better connections.

Concerned with declining market of Indian seafarers industry despite having high population in comparison to its rival countries, representatives of leading shipping associations in the country have joined a ‘task force’ or committee formed by Directorate General of Shipping of India to primarily increase the global share of Indian seafarers' market to over 9 percent from 7 percent at present. Among the associations are National Union of Seafarers of India (NUSI), Maritime Union of India (MUI), Maritime Association of Shipowners, Shipowners and Agents (MASSA) and others.

Western manufacturers are shying away from supplying equipment for an Iranian port that India is developing for fear the United States may reimpose sanctions on Tehran, Indian officials say, dealing a blow to New Delhi's strategic ambitions in the region. Lying on the Gulf of Oman along the approaches to the Straits of Hormuz, the port of Chabahar is central to India's hopes to crack open a transport corridor to Central Asia and Afghanistan that bypasses arch-rival Pakistan. India committed $500 million to speed development of the port after sanctions on Iran were lifted following a deal struck between major powers and Tehran to curb its nuclear programme in 2015.

The government is aggressively promoting the adoption of ‘Make in India’ campaign including the shipping and port sectors. The Ministry is aiming to raise cargo and passenger movement through waterways from the current five per cent to 30 per cent in the next 15 years. This means that there will be demand for more coastal ships, barges and passenger vessels, which would offer more opportunities to local shipyards. India plans to build seven ports by 2017, using 7.6 billion in public and private funds.

Indian Naval Ship Sahyadri has visited Papua New Guinea on its four-day overseas deployment to the Southeast Asia and Southern Indian Ocean aimed to strengthen existing bonds between the two countries. The ship would be on a port visit to Moresby from 12 June  to 15 June 2017. The visit of the Indian Naval Ships seeks to underscore India’s peaceful presence and solidarity with friendly and harmonious countries towards ensuring good order in the maritime domain and to strengthen existing bonds between Papua New Guinea and India.

The Ministry of Shipping in India conducted a workshop on “GST for Shipping” in New Delhi today to sensitize all constituents of the maritime fraternity, as the country lauches the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) to revolutionize the country's tax system. The workshop was attended by representatives from ports, various attached and subordinate organizations under the Ministry of Shipping and industry associations. Chairing the workshop Rajive Kumar, Secretary Shipping said that…

The flagship programme of Indian Ministry of Shipping – Sagarmala, has moved from the conceptualization and planning to the implementation stage. The Sagarmala project is introduces to harness India's 7,500-km coastline will promote port-led development in the country. As a part of the programme, more than 400 projects have been identified across the areas of port modernization and new port development, connectivity enhancement, portlinked industrialization and coastal community development.

Maersk Training, part of the Denmark based A.P. Moller-Maersk, is betting on the Indian training centre, reports the Hindu. India is one of the 10 Centre’s that is making profits. "While other Maersk training centres are facing issues due to downturn in maritime and oil and gas sectors, India is doing a good job by balancing it. We are ready to provide them a helping hand so that they can tap into global talent pool of trainers to get information, knowledge and content to offer high end and niche courses in oil and gas sector…

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.

Allcargo Logistics has announced the acquisition of two additional vessels aggregating 24000 DWT. for its coastal shipping business. Post this acquisition Allcargo now owns a total of five cargo vessels making it one of the largest players in the logistics industry. The main criterion for this acquisition was to cater to the growing requirements not only of coastal shipping but regional trade and commerce as well. India has over 7,000 km of coastline. Considering India’s demography and strategic location as a global trade hub…

Indian port professionals who follow courses given in Mumbai by APEC, the port of Antwerp training centre, can now benefit from a purpose-built training facility. The new facility was officially opened on Monday this week during the annual Port of Antwerp Mission to India, in the presence of Belgian deputy prime minister Alexander De Croo, port alderman Marc Van Peel, APEC principal Kristof Waterschoot, JNPT chairman Shri Neeraj Bansal and Indian Port Association chairman Shri Sanjay Bhatia.

The Indian Cabinet of Ministers gave ex-post facto approval to the agreement signed in April between India and Cyprus on merchant shipping. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) is aimed at enhancing cooperation between the two nations for sea trade development. "The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its ex-post facto approval to the agreement between India and Cyprus on merchant shipping, which was signed in April 2017," the Ministry of Shipping said in a statement.

The Indian Navy's sailing vessel INSV Tarini, with an all-woman crew,  visited Port Louis harbour in Mauritius as part efforts by the two countries to ramp up maritime security cooperation. Tarini, which inducted in the Indian Navy in Feb 2017, is the sister Vessel of Indian Navy's first sailing Vessel INSV Mhadei, that has numerous accomplishments to her name. INSV Tarini is 55 feet in length and built in India in line with the ‘Make in India’ initiative of the Indian Navy, fructified by M/s Aquarius Shipyard, Goa.

The Global Small Scale LNG Market is expected to grow over the CAGR of around 2.5% during the period 2014 to 2022, says a report by Market Research Future. The growth of the Small Scale LNG Market is majorly driven by increased demand for energy in the Asia-Pacific region. The government initiatives that focus on providing cleaner fuel, is driving the market, especially in countries such as India and China. The market is further driven by the growing adoption of LNG for heavy duty transportation purposes in the Europe and North American regions.

Congestion at Paradip expected to ease in a week if rains stop; higher-than-usual congestion at some other ports too. Indian power and steel companies are importing shiploads of coal due to a severe shortage at home, leading to heavy congestion in one of the country's busiest ports that now has twice the number of vessels waiting than its available berths. The over-crowding at Paradip port in eastern Odisha could derail India's efforts to prevent a shutdown of more than half of its power plants which are running on stocks of less than a week in the worst deficit since a massive blackout in 2012. While Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal has urged power firms to bring more coal into India - already the world's No.

INS Shardul, which was dispatched by Southern Naval Command of India Navy with relief material to Sri Lanka has arrived in Colombo. In the wake of recent floods in Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan government has asked for flood relief assistance from India. According to ANI report, India dispatched three navy ships to help in the massive rescue and relief operations launched by the island nation's triforces. Earlier on Saturday, Indian High Commissioner to Colombo Taranjit Singh Sandhu and Sri Lankan Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake received the INS Kirch packed with relief items.

The Inland Waterways Authority of India organized a road show in association with the Ministry Of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) in Guwahati last week to brainstorm on the major issues linked with developing the rivers of the North East as viable and sustainable means for cargo and passenger transportation. The seminar showcased the potential for cargo and passenger transportation on rivers Brahmaputra- NW- 2, Barak- NW- 16 and others. It also highlighted the enabling…

Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd (ST Engineering) announced today that its land systems arm, Singapore Technologies Kinetics Ltd has injected S$4.2m (equivalent to INR200m) into its wholly owned subsidiary, SDG Kinetics Pte Ltd (SDGK), for flowthrough capital injection into LeeBoy India Construction Equipment Private Limited (LeeBoy India) to provide working capital for LeeBoy India’s operations in India. At the same time, SDGK has purchased shares worth INR9.4m (approximately S$0.2m), approximately 1.2% of LeeBoy India’s total share capital, from LeeBoy India’s management staff. The shares were purchased at the subscription price of INR10 (approximately S$0.21) per share in accordance with the terms of the management staff’s employment contracts.

In pursuance of India’s ‘Act East Policy’, Indian Naval Ships Sahyadri, Shivalik, Jyoti and Kamorta under the command of Rear Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta, YSM, VSM, the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet are on an overseas deployment to the South East Asia and Southern Indian Ocean. Indian Naval Ships Sahyadri and Kamorta are on a port visit to Jakarta from May 26 to May 30, 2017 and to Surabaya from June 01 to June 05. The visit of the Indian Naval Ships seeks to underscore…