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Ministry Of Shipping News

30 Aug 2023

VIKING Wins Large Hellenic Coastguard Patrol Boat Order

(Image: VIKING)

VIKING Norsafe Life-saving Equipment HELLAS has secured orders from Greece’s Ministry of Shipping & Island Policy to deliver 31 patrol boats and three high-speed boats to the Hellenic Coast Guard. The orders, covered in three separate contracts with the VIKING Life-saving Equipment subsidiary, are part of an EU-backed Hellenic Coast Guard procurement program which was initiated four years ago.Two of the contracts cover 31 boats based on VIKING Norsafe’s proven Munin S1200 hull form, with the design adapted to meet client requirements.

27 Apr 2020

Operators Warn of Congestion at Indian Ports

© SNEHIT PHOTO / Adobe Stock

Singapore's PSA International and Indian container freight operators have warned the Indian government that its order to waive container storage charges during the coronavirus lockdown could lead to port congestion, letters seen by Reuters showed.India's Ministry of Shipping asked ports to allow free storage of containers as part of relief measures to ease pressure on companies hit by logistics restrictions because of India's nationwide lockdown.PSA's local unit in a letter to the government on April 24 said importers might not remove their containers from ports due to free storage…

09 Mar 2020

Cochin Port Upgrades Vessel Traffic Management System

The Administration Building of the Cochin Port Trust, which houses the Wärtsilä VTMS control tower. (Photo: Wärtsilä)

The technology group Wärtsilä will upgrade its Vessel Traffic Management System (VTMS) installed in the Indian port of Cochin, bringing additional benefits such as improved traffic monitoring and control.The system was originally delivered in 2008, and the order with Wärtsilä to upgrade the system was placed in February 2020 by the Cochin Port Trust (CoPT). The upgrading project is scheduled for completion by the end of July 2020.According to Wärtsilä, the upgraded VTMS will enable…

28 Nov 2019

India Accedes to Ship Recycling Convention

India, one of the world's five major ship recycling countries, has acceded to the IMO Hong Kong Convention, the treaty that will set global standards for safe and environmentally-sound ship recycling.India's accession brings this important convention a significant step closer to entering into force, with the required 15 States now party to it and with India's ship recycling volume considerably contributing to the required recycling capacity.The Hong Kong Convention1 covers the design, construction, operation and maintenance of ships to ensure they can be recycled safely and in an environment-friendly way at the end of their lives. It also deals with how ships should be prepared for their final voyage to a recycling facility…

15 Oct 2019

India to Develop 204 Minor Ports

The government of India will put in place a comprehensive plan to develop 204 minor ports in the country in the next six months to boost coastal shipping and inland waterways, Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said. These minor ports will be developed so that it can support 12 major ports in India. Small cargo will reach to major port from minor ports and boost EXIM cargo, the minister said.All these ports have been centers of maritime activity in the past, and if revived, they can once again become important centers of sea trade. Mandaviya said that the Government is looking at developing synergy between the Major and Minor ports so…

23 Jul 2019

Number of Indian Seafarers Grows 45%

Employment of Indian seafarers on Indian and foreign ships witnessed a growth of 45 percent in the last three years.The Minister of State for Shipping Mansukh Mandaviya informed the Parliament that the number has increased from 143940 in 2016 to 208799 globally in 2018.The Minister informed that the Government has taken several initiatives and policy decisions to  help increase the share of Indian seafarers at the global level.For example, seafarers are being employed on ships through secured paths i.e. either by Indian shipowners on Indian flag ships,regulated under Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 or on foreign flag ships through registered…

16 Jul 2019

Ten Turkish Sailors Seized by Pirates off Nigeria

© pavalena / Adobe Stock

Ten Turkish sailors were taken hostage by armed pirates who attacked a Turkish-flagged cargo ship off the coast of Nigeria, the vessel's owner said on Tuesday, adding that another eight sailors were left safely aboard.Turkey's foreign ministry said the sailors were seized on Saturday evening. After the pirates left the ship it was taken to Ghana's Tema port, and Ghanaian and Nigerian authorities are working on returning the captured sailors, the ministry said.Shipping company Kadioglu Denizcilik said its ship…

04 Jul 2019

MACN's Port Integrity Campaign in India

The Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN) has announced the launch of a groundbreaking Port Integrity Campaign in India, with the support of the Government of India.The global business network of over 110 companies working together to tackle corruption in the maritime industry said that the campaign, which aims to reduce and (in the long term) eliminate integrity issues and bottlenecks to trade during operations in Indian ports, is a collective action of MACN, the Government of India, international organizations, and local industry stakeholders.The pilot of the campaign will take place in Mumbai ports (MbPT and JNPT) and will run until October this year.

03 Jul 2019

India - Maldives Ferry Services Soon

The Indian Cabinet gave its approval ex post facto to the pact signed between India and the Maldives to start passenger and cargo services through the sea route.The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between India and Maldives on June 8, during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the island country.The MoU will pave the way for ferry services between the Maldives and India, said a statement from the ministry of shipping, India. The proposed ferry service would contribute in a big way to promote people to people contact and to boost bilateral trade.Male, the capital of the Maldives and most populous city and Kulhudhuffushi…

28 Jun 2019

India Intros Maritime Technology Center

Indian Ministry of shipping has signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with IIT Kharagpur on Wednesday for setting up a Centre for Inland and Coastal Maritime Technology (CICMT).CICMT will provide technological, vessel design and applied research support for inland waterways and coastal shipping, said a government release.Speaking on the occasion, Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of State for Shipping said, “Indigenous technology is the need of the hour for the maritime sector, and we are determined to promote Make- In- India as per the vision of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.”Detailing about the state-of-the-art centre which is being set up the under the flagship Sagarmala Program…

19 Feb 2019

India: Locally Built Ships Priority in Chartering

The government of India has revised guidelines for chartering of ships by providing the right-of-first-refusal (RoFR) to ships built within the country, a move to promote the Make in India initiative and incentivise shipbuilding activity.Henceforth, whenever a tendering process is undertaken to charter a vessel, a bidder offering a ship built in India will be given the first priority to match the L1 quote. It is expected that this priority given to ships built in India will raise the demand for such vessels, providing them with additional market access and business support.Prior to the revision of the guidelines, the RoFR was reserved for Indian flag vessels as per the relevant provisions of Merchant Shipping Act, 1958.

12 Feb 2019

Maersk Uses Inland Waterway in India

The world's largest container shipping company Maersk Line began moving 16 containers on the Ganga river from Varanasi to Kolkata, the Shipping Ministry of India said.It will be Maersk's first container movement in the 1390-km inland waterway in the River Ganga from Haldia to Varanasi."Maersk Line will move 16 containers on river Ganga (National Waterway-1) from Varanasi to Kolkata tomorrow. The firm is onboard India's inland waterways for the first time," the ministry said in a statement.The Indian government has been developing National Waterway-1 with technical and financial assistance from the World Bank at an estimated cost of around $790 million.On November 12…

12 Feb 2019

Indian Ports Register 3.11% Growth

Major ports in India together handled 578.86 Million Tonnes (MT) of cargo during April-January 2019, representing a growth of 3.11 per cent, an official statement said.The major ports had handled 561.39 MT cargo in the corresponding period of previous fiscal, the Ministry of Shipping said in a statement."The major ports in India have recorded a growth of 3.11 per cent and together handled 578.86 MT of cargo during the period April to January, 2019 as against 561.39 MT handled during the corresponding period of previous year," it said.Deendayal (Kandla) Port handled highest volume of traffic of 94.55 mt with 16.33% share. It is followed by Paradip with 89.98 mt (15.54% share), JNPT with 58.6 mt (10.12% share), Visakhapatnam with 54.73 mt (9.45% share) and Kolkata (inc.

26 Jan 2019

India: Seafarer Jobs Growth whopping 42.3%

The last four years saw an unprecedented growth of 42.3 per cent shipboard jobs for Indian seafarers.The seafarers employed on ships worldwide increased from 108446 in 2013 to 154349 in 2017.India now provides 9.35 per cent of the global seafarers and ranks third in the list of the largest seafarer supplying nation to the world maritime industry."The Ministry of Shipping has strived to improve employment generation in the Shipping sector during the last four years," said Union Minister of State for Shipping Mansukh Mandaviya.He further added, "the number of trained active seafarers today is 154,000, of which 4700 are women and as many…

22 Jan 2019

Denmark, India Sign Maritime Pact

The Danish Ministry of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs and the Indian Ministry of Shipping have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen the cooperation in the maritime sector between the two countries.With the conclusion of this agreement, the two countries’ mutual commitment and interest in cooperating to ensure good conditions for the maritime sector is underlined.Minister for Industry, Business and Financial Affairs, Rasmus Jarlov said: “India is a major growth economy that plays a key role in the global maritime sector. This makes India an important partner for Denmark and the entire Danish maritime industry.

11 Jan 2019

Concor Begins Maiden Coastal Voyage

India has huge potential for enhancing modal share of coastal shipping and inland water navigation. The current share is only 7% unlike countries like China with 24%  and Germany 11%. India looks to tap this segment in a big way.The maiden coastal voyage of a vessel of Container Corporation of India (Concor) was flagged off by Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Shipping and  Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Railways.CONCOR is a public sector unit (PSU) under Ministry of railways. The vessel SSL Mumbai is sailing from Kandla Port to Tuticorin via Mangalore and Cochin. This is a unique example of multi-modal logistics solution through integrated rail and coastal movement.

16 Dec 2018

India's Sagarmala Completes 89 Projects

Sagarmala Programme, an initiative of Government of India to enhance the performance of logistics sector in India, saw the completion of 89 projects, while 443 projects worth USD 5.9 bln are under various stages of implementation and development.SagarmalaProgrammeaims  to promote port-led development with a view to reducing logistics cost for EXIM and domestic trade.Ministry of Shipping, along with the State Governments are striving to increase the overall port capacity to 3500+ million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) to cater to the projected traffic of 2500 MMTPA by 2025.Towards this end, 249 port modernization projects have been identified.

06 Dec 2018

Kolkata-Patna: India's Second Inland Container Cargo Sector

Patna, capital of Indian state of Bihar, will witness a new landmark in the country’s Inland Water Transport (IWT) sector with 16 TEUs of container cargo (equivalent to 16 truckloads), belonging to food majors PepsiCo India and Emami Agrotech will reach the city's Gaighat IWT Terminal from Kolkata on river Ganga next week.Inland Waterways Authority of India’s (IWAI) vessel MV RN Tagore sailed from Kolkata’s Garden Reach Jetty on December 6th. It will reach the IWT terminal at Patna in 6-7 days after an 815 kms long voyage on river Ganga (National Waterway-1).The cargo will be unloaded at IWAI’s inter-modal terminal at Gaighat in  Patna from where onward cargo will be loaded.

25 Oct 2018

India to Boost Coastal Shipping

The Indian ministry of shipping has taken several significant steps to boost and develop coastal shipping as the most efficient mode of transportation of cargo."The country believes that development of coastal shipping will facilitate movement of cargo through inland water transport to coast and vice-versa, which is cheapest way of transport,"said the Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Chemicals & Fertilizers Mansukh L Mandaviyainan.This would also result in diversion of cargo from rail/ road to sea route.At present, transportation of cargo through coastal shipping is significantly lower than by road or rail transport.As per study, the cost of per ton cargo movement per KM by road is Rs. 2.50/, by rail is Rs. 1.36/- while by water route, it is Rs.

06 Sep 2018

Indian Ports Register Positive Growth of 5.13%

The Major ports in India have recorded a growth of 5.13% and together handled 288.38 MTof cargo during the period April to August, 2018 as against 274.32 MThandled during the corresponding period of previous year.For the period from April-August 2018, nine Ports Kolkata, Paradip, Visakhapatnam, Kamarajar, Chennai, Cochin, New Mangalore, JNPT and Deendayal have registered positive growth in traffic.According to a statement from the Ministry of Shipping, the highest growth was registered by Kamarajar Port (17.24%), followed by Deendayal Port (11.16%), Paradip (10.93%), Cochin (10.13%) and Kolkata (9.01%).Kamarajar Port growth was mainly due to increase in Other Misc.

04 Sep 2018

India Builds National Maritime Heritage Complex at Lothal

Indian Ministry of Shipping, through its flagship programme Sagarmala, is closely working with Government of Gujarat state and other stakeholders to showcase India's rich maritime heritage through development of a World Class Maritime Heritage Complex (NMHC) at Lothal in the state of Gujarat.Preliminary work on design elements of the proposed heritage complex has been completed and consultations from experts are now under process. In order to further plan and take the project forward, a one day consultation workshop was held at Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sanghralaya in Mumbai. The discussion was centred on the plan options, themes…

27 Aug 2018

Indian Port Rail Corporation to Begin New Railway Line Project

Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT), Ministry of Shipping, Ministry of Railways and state governments of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra will enter into a pact tomorrow for implementing a new Indore- Manmad Railway Line Project.The project will be implemented through Indian Port Rail Corporation Limited on joint venture special purpose vehicle (SPV) model."An MoU will be signed tomorrow between JNPT- Ministry of Shipping, Ministry of Railways, Govt of Maharashtra and Govt of Madhya Pradesh for implementation of 362 km Indore- Manmad New Railway Line Project," the shipping ministry said in a statement.The project will reduce the distance from Mumbai/Pune to key central India locations by 171 kilometers.The project passes through the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor nodes Igatpuri…

02 Aug 2018

India Allows Domestic Fertilizers Transportation by Foreign Vessels

India's Minister of State for Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan in informed that the Ministry of Shipping has given relaxation to foreign vessels for carriage of fertilizer from one port to another port within the country under section 407 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958. The foreign flag ships are now not required to obtain a license from the Director General of Shipping for engaging in coastal trade for carriage of fertilizer by sea.The relaxation is subject to the condition that the information as per the format prescribed in the relaxation order is submitted to the Director General of Shipping by email at least 24 hours prior to sail of ship from a port in India.The relaxation shall also be subject to the condition that Indian law enforcement agencies…