Narendra Modi News

The Indian Navy will deploy guided missile destroyer ships in the Arabian Sea as a deterrent after an Israel-affiliated merchant vessel was struck off the Indian coast over the weekend.The navy was investigating the nature of the attack on the vessel, MV Chem Pluto, which docked in Mumbai on Monday, and initial reports pointed to a drone attack, a navy statement said."Further forensic and technical analysis will be required to establish the vector of attack, including type and amount of explosive used…

A new and deadly chapter of the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict is a reality check for an ambitious trade route. The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), championed by Washington last month on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi and dubbed a Western rival to China’s Belt and Road, had much to prove anyway. The latest conflict presses pause on any grand financial visions involving the neighbourhood.IMEC’s chief backers waxed lyrical about the potential of the trade route involving railways, ports and green energy. U.S.

The Indian government plans to invite financial bids for the privatization of Shipping Corp of India Ltd (SCI) next month, as it looks to sell the state-run company after years of delay, two government officials told Reuters.The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government had, in 2019, announced plans to privatize a number of state-run companies, including selling its stake in SCI, which was stalled due to regulatory delays.SCI – which owns and operates bulk carriers and crude oil tankers, among others – had to spin off its non-core assets before the government could sell its 63.75% stake, which hit a roadblock over the amount of funds to be transferred to the demerged entity.SCI completed the spinoff last month after getting regulatory approval late in February.This demerged entity…

Naval vessels and aircraft scoured the waters off India's west coast late on Wednesday after the most powerful cyclone in more than two decades battered the region, sinking an oilfield accommodation barge and killing 26 aboard, authorities said.Cyclone Tauktae unleashed waves of up to 25 feet (7.6 meters) offshore before it hit the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat over the past two days, leaving a trail of destruction that killed 62 others, authorities said.Naval ships and aircraft…

Fourteen people have died as a barge sank off India's west coast after a powerful cyclone barrelled into the country, authorities said on Wednesday, while Indian navy ships and aircraft scoured waters to locate scores of other missing personnel."We can confirm that 14 bodies have been recovered from the rescue operation of barge P305" that sank off the coast of Mumbai, Mehul Karnik, chief public relations officer, Western Naval Command told Reuters.Indian navy ships and aircraft…

Indian navy ships and aircraft scoured waters off the financial capital Mumbai on Wednesday for 77 workers missing from a barge that sank after a powerful cyclone barrelled into the country's west coast this week.Driving waves of up to 25 feet on the high seas, cyclone Tauktae rammed into the western states of Maharashtra and Gujarat over the past two days, killing at least 29 people and leaving a trail of destruction, authorities said.The storm smashed into the Bombay High oilfield near Mumbai…

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes are being diverted away from ports in India as surging coronavirus cases there hamper domestic gas demand, trade and shipping sources said on Monday.Six LNG tankers diverted away from India since April 20, changing the destination to northeast Asia, Europe and Kuwait instead, said Rebecca Chia, an analyst with data intelligence firm Kpler.Further diversions and reduction in shipments to India are expected this week, trade sources told Reuters…

Our planet is facing its greatest challenge, and it’s not coronavirus. Asbjørn Halsebakke, Product Manager, Yaskawa Environmental Energy / The Switch, ponders how greater political action could help the maritime industry meet its most ambitious environmental goals.Why hasn’t the climate crisis elicited the same urgent response from global governments as the corona pandemic? When confronted with the terrible threat of viral spread, national leaders from Boris Johnson to Narendra Modi…

Hundreds of exhausted Indian fishermen, who said they were refused entry at two ports after a nationwide lockdown was imposed to fight the new coronavirus, docked in the western state of Maharashtra on Friday after about a month at sea.The men were out in the Arabian Sea on March 24 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 21-day lockdown, which has now been extended to May 3.They tried to dock at Nargol in the state of Gujarat to the north, but said that locals, fearful they were carrying the disease, stopped them from disembarking.

Our planet is facing its greatest challenge, and it’s not coronavirus. Asbjørn Halsebakke, Product Manager, Yaskawa Environmental Energy / The Switch, ponders how greater political action could help the maritime industry meet its most ambitious environmental goals.Why hasn’t the climate crisis elicited the same urgent response from global governments as the corona pandemic? When confronted with the terrible threat of viral spread, national leaders from Boris Johnson to Narendra Modi…

Indian government has green-lighted a mega container port, to be constructed at a cost of INR655.45bn ($9.2bn) at Vadhavan, around 160 km north-west of Mumbai.The proposal to create the huge port – on a ‘landlord model’ – was cleared at a Union Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.The proposed port is set to catapult India among countries boasting the top 10 container ports in the world. At the moment, the largest container port in India is Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), which sits in the 28th position among the world’s top container ports, with annual throughput of 5.1m teu.A Special Purpose Vehicle will be formed with Mumbai’s JNPT as the lead partner…

Indian Government approved a model pact with foreign countries that would also allow unilateral recognition of seafarers' competency certificates, thus easing the process for them to seek employment on ships under the flag of that country.The decision was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This will pave the way for mutual recognition of maritime education and training of seafarers by the countries involved.“The Cabinet has approved a model MoU with foreign countries for unilateral/bilateral recognition of Certificates of Competency of seafarers,” a government official said.Indian Seafarers…

India and Saudi Arabia have decided to expand its ‘energy relationship’ into next phase to include Saudi partnership in building additional crude oil storage reserves in India, a new refinery on the west coast of India and investment in retail sector in petroleum.Saudi Arabia is its second-biggest supplier of crude oil after Iraq. It sold 40.33 million tonnes of crude oil to India in 2018-19 fiscal, when the country had imported 207.3 million tonnes of oil.India imports around 18 per cent of its crude oil from the Kingdom, making it the second-largest source of crude oil for the country, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.PM Modi…

India can now use two crucial Bangladesh ports - Chattogram and Mongla - for shipment of its cargo, which will cut time and cost significantly, India's shipping minister Mansukh Lal Mandavia said.He has said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign policy initiative regarding use of Chattogram and Mongla Ports in Bangladesh for movement of goods to and from India will bring revolutionary cost-cutting in shipments to and from the North Eastern States.During the official visit of  Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of People's Republic of Bangladesh to India , a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) wherein Bangladesh allowed the use…

The Government of India opened its second multi-modal terminal (MMT) yesterday, September 12, 2019. Located on the River Ganges at Sahibganj in Jharkhand State, the new terminal is now ready for business following the completion of a two-year construction project managed by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI). India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the $40.32 million project in April 2017.Phase one of the terminal was inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi via a two-way digital communication system during an event held in Ranchi…

India and Russia have agreed on a five-year roadmap to step up cooperation in the hydrocarbon sector, including investment, not only in exploration and production in each other's oil and gas fields but also in downstream projects.India invited Russian companies to invest in its oil refining and petrochemical projects as the two nations vowed to increase energy cooperation going beyond LNG supplies and stakes in Russian oil and gas fields.According to a joint statement issued after India Prime Minister Narendra Modi's annual bilateral summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Vladivostok, Indian state-owned firms, which already have stakes in four sets of oil and gas fields in Russia…

Stena Bulk  chief executive and president Erik Hanell wrote to Indian prime minister Narendra Modi to personally enter the efforts to secure the release of UK-flagged tanker ship Stena Impero and its primarily Indian crew members, who have been detained in Iran since mid-July.According to media reports, the owner of British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero, which was seized by Iran on July 19 with 23 crew, including 18 Indians on board, has appealed to  Modi personally intervene to negotiate with Tehran.The oil tanker Stena Impero was seized by Iran while passing through the Hormuz Strait. It was done in retaliation, after Iran's own…

Indian warships escorting merchant vessels in the Persian Gulf will remain deployed for the longer term, officials with direct knowledge of the matter said, as tensions between Iran and Western powers rise.But the two ships, backed by surveillance aircraft, will not be part of a military coalition that the United States is assembling to safeguard the waters off Iran near the Straits of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil moves, the two officials said.Since June following attacks on tankers that the United States blamed on Iran and Iran-aligned fighters…

India has become the first country in the world to issue Bio-metric Seafarer Identity Document (BSID), capturing the facial bio-metric data of seafarers.Mansukh Mandaviya, the Minister of Shipping launched the project in New Delhi yesterday (August 28). He also handed over the new BSID cards to five Indian seafarers.The new facial biometric technology is a marked improvement over the two finger or iris based bio-metric data, with modern security features. It will make the identification of the SID holder more reliable and efficient, while protecting their dignity and privacy. India had made a presentation on this technology at International Labour Organization (ILO).Mandaviya said that the country is moving ahead rapidly under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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…

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…

The re-elected Indian prime minister Narendra Modi's first foreign travel was to the neighbouring Maldives and Sri Lanka as part of his "neighborhood-first policy."China is also trying to exert its influence, especially in maritime sector, in both Sri Lanka and the Maldives. China's increasing involvement in both Sri Lanka and the Maldives pose threat to India's maritime boarders.Both South Asian countries are facing political instability as their ruling class has been divided into pro-India and pro-China groups.According to government sources, Modi's first foreign trip reinforces a growing impression that this regional tour underscores…

Indian Minister of State for Shipping, Mansukh Mandaviya laid the foundation stone for development of an additional Liquid Cargo Jetty at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) in Mumbai.According to a government announcement, the facility will be built at a cost of over INR 309 crore (USD 43 million), the project will cater to the increased demand for handling liquid cargo like edible oil, LPG, molasses and other chemicals.Mandaviya said, “The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has laid focus on port-led development. Keeping this in view, India’s ports are being developed and modernized in line with global best practices.”“There is an increased domestic and industrial demand for liquid commodities like LPG etc in the country, with PM’s plans to reach gas stoves to every home.