Sushma Swaraj News

A ship carrying 22 Indian crew and 13,500 tons of gasoline is missing in the Gulf of Guinea after contact was lost in Benin on Friday, the company and India's minister of external affairs said on Sunday. The Gulf of Guinea has become an increasing target for pirates who steal cargo and demand ransoms, even as piracy incidents fall worldwide, experts say. The Marine Express tanker, managed by Hong Kong-based Anglo-Eastern, was last see in Benin's waters at 3:30 a.m. GMT on Friday after which contact was lost, an Anglo Eastern spokesman told Reuters. The cause of the loss of communication was unknown and a search was underway, conducted with help from Nigerian and Beninese authorities, Anglo-Eastern said.

Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with South Koreas second-largest shipbuilder, Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) to team up to bid for the GAIL (India) Ltd tender to build liquefied natural gas (LNG) ships. GAIL needs nine LNG carriers to haul natural gas from the US to India beginning December 2017. With this, Cochin Shipyard becomes the second local yard to secure a technology tie-up for LNG ships from one of the three top shipbuilders in South Korea, the world’s top shipbuilding nation. According to Express News Service, If Cochin Shipyard-Samsung wins the tender, the consortium is expected to secure orders for three ships, each costs around Rs 1500 crore.

India is planning to establish a port in Bangladesh, says the Minister for Shipping, Nitin Gadkari. A high-level committee will be sent to the neighbouring country in this regard. "A shipping ministry delegation led by a joint secretary will visit Bangladesh next week to study the site and prepare a detailed project report," he said. A final decision will be taken after the recommendations from the committee, and investment proposals will be finalised only after that. However, a senior official said the proposal is to set up a port at Payra in Bangladesh and a detailed project report is ready. Apart from Bangladesh, India has expressed keenness to develop ports for various countries, including Africa and Iran.

Two Indian sailors were killed in a fire on board a vessel off Yemen while three Indians injured in the fire have been admitted to a hospital in Oman, Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said. Sharing the tragic news on twitter, the minister also expressed her condolences to the bereaved families. "We have lost two Indian sailors Mahesh Kumar Rajagopal and Deepu Lathika Mohan due to fire in a vessel Al Sadaa. My condolences," she tweeted. The minister said the injured have been admitted to a hospital in Salalah, Oman. ”The three injured have been admitted in a hospital in Salalah, Oman. Our missions in Djibouti and Oman are providing all assistance,” she added. Swaraj said that Indian “missions in Djibouti and Oman were providing all possible assistance”.

India's state-owned Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Korean firm Samsung Heavy Industries for technology partnership in constructing liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrying vessels, reports local media. “Cochin Shipyard has signed an agreement with Samsung Heavy Industries to collaborate on building LNG ships,” a shipping ministry official said. The MoU, which was inked after protracted negotiations will enable the city-based public sector yard to respond to a tender for LNG carrier construction soon-to-be-re-issued by GAIL (India). An earlier tender issued by GAIL (India) in this regard was cancelled in February this year after it failed to elicit any response.

India has launched a massive evacuation program and a warship rescued more Indian nationals who were stranded in Yemen from the western Red Sea port city of Hodeidah on Thursday. As many as 349 Indians on Wednesday reached Djibouti after being evacuated on a Navy vessel from Aden, the seaport city of strife-torn Yemen, and will be brought back to India by the Indian Air Force on Wednesday night, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said. Consequent upon the Government of India issuing an advisory for Indian nationals to leave Yemen, the Indian Navy has deployed 3 ships in support of the evacuation operation. In a well co-ordinated operation involving multiple agencies…

Odisha has the opportunity to reclaim its trade and cultural relations with nations in the Indian Ocean Region. The state can become the maritime gateway of India once again, said Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Recollecting the rich trade practice of Kalinga merchants, Naveen said the state is in the process of developing a number of ports in the 480-km coastline. He was addressing international conference on "India and Indian Ocean" in Bhubaneswar, capital of the state. Naveen said having a glorious maritime history and with a resurgent economy in the beginning of the 21st century, India is poised to rediscover its legacy and reestablish its ancient glory.

India has expressed the hope that the Asean-India Maritime Transport cooperation agreement will be finalised by the end of the year, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said. "We have identified maritime cooperation as a major area and both sides have started talks on a maritime transport pact which could be firmed up by year-end," she said. ASEAN is India's fourth largest trading partner and the annual trade between the two sides stood at over $76 billion in 2013. In the backdrop of growing Chinese influence in South China Sea, India and Asean (Association of South-East Asian Nations) countries are discussing the evolving maritime security architecture in the region. “The idea is to evolve security architecture in the region...

Gail India Ltd has scrapped a tender that would have led to the construction of three massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers at Indian shipyards. After postponing tender deadline thrice and also one year later, state-owned gas utility GAIL India Ltd has not found any bidder for its USD 7 billion tender to hire newly-built LNG ships to ferry gas from the US. GAIL's tender to hire nine newly-built liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers drew a blank due to the government's condition of building a third of the ships in India, officials said. "There was no response from ship owners and GAIL decided not to extend the tender beyond 17 February. The tender has lapsed," a company spokesperson said.

Sri Lanka and India exchanged the fishermen who were detained in each other's jails for trespassing into their territorial waters. A total of 15 Indian fishermen, who were in the custody of Sri Lankan authorities, reached Karaikal, while Indian Coast Guard handed over 10 Lankan fishermen and two of their boats to the Island's Coast Guard. According to an official release, Coast Guard ship ICGS Rajdhwaj received the Indian fishermen from Lankan authorities near the Indo Lankan Maritime Boundary Line and handed them over to fisheries officials at Karaikal. The ship also handed over 10 Lankan fishermen and their two boats, which were released from Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh.

The state-owned gas utility GAIL (India) has postponed the tender date for its $7.6 billion newly built LNG ships for the third time as it did find any takers. The company first postponed the last date of bidding from October 30 to December 4 and then to January 6. Today it put it off till February 17, according to a notice issued by GAIL. This is because the PSU firm is not able to get responses from international shipbuilders, given the condition that they should lend their technology to Indian firms. There is a mandatory provision in the tender that one ship in each lot has to be built in partnership with Indian shipyards. This is a part of the ‘Make in India’ effort.

India's top court on Friday granted permission for an ailing Italian marine facing murder charges to return home for four months for medical treatment. Massimiliano Lattore, who suffered a stroke in August, is one of two Italian marines being held over the 2012 shooting of two fishermen mistakenly believed to be pirates in a case that has soured ties between New Delhi and Rome. "We are allowing the plea of the accused (Lattore) to visit Italy for four months for his brain stroke treatment," a Supreme Court bench said in an order. On Monday, India's Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj expressed the government's willingness to let Lattore, 47, seek medical treatment in Italy.

The Indian government will not prevent an ailing Italian marine facing murder charges from returning home for medical treatment, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Monday. Massimiliano Lattore is one of two Italian marines being held over the 2012 shooting of two fishermen mistakenly believed to be pirates, in a case that has soured relations between New Delhi and Rome. Lattore, 47, suffered a stroke in August. India's Supreme Court has instructed the government to respond to his plea for bail so that he can seek treatment. "We will not oppose the bail plea of the Italian marine. We will not do it on humanitarian grounds," Swaraj told reporters. Under international pressure, India had dropped a plan to prosecute the marines under a tough new anti-piracy law.