India: Shipping Ministry Closely Monitoring Piracy Incidents, Says G.K. Vasan

One of the main and most serious threats to shipping is in the form of piracy off the coast of Somalia. A large area of the Arabian Sea has been affected by this threat thereby pushing up the cost of freight carried through this critical shipping corridor.

The Ministry of Shipping is closely monitoring incidents of piracy through the Director General of Shipping, in close coordination with the Navy, Ministry of Defence and Ministry of External Affairs. The Government has also issued guidelines on providing of armed guards on board merchant ships as a measure to deter pirate attacks.

This was stated by Sh. G.K. Vasan, Union Minister of Shipping at the international seminar on “Towards Sustainable Shipping” organised by Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, in Chennai today.

Regarding Government’s efforts towards handling shipping accidents he said, “while Shipping is seen to be an eco-friendly mode of transport compared to road and rail, there is further scope of improvement in controlling noxious emissions while ships are at sea and in port. The Government has put in place a legal framework to handle shipping accidents by acceding to two international conventions, that is, the Wreck Removal Convention and the Protocol to the Convention on Limited Liability for Maritime Claims. We will also be acceding to the Convention on Civil Liability for Bunker Oil Pollution Damage and the Convention for the Control of Harmful Anti-fouling System on Ships very soon. These initiatives will -2- provide a strong legal framework to claim compensation in case of oil spills, ship wrecks and other accidents”.

About the Government’s approach on safety measures he said that the Indian Government accords highest priority to safety at ports. All the major ports have already been directed to ensure safe handling and disposal of hazardous goods. Accordingly, instructions have been issued to all major ports by the Ministry of Shipping to scrupulously follow the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code adopted by the International Maritime Organisation.

The Initiative by International Association of Ports and Harbour for rating of ships by harbours on the basis of emission standards is a step in the right direction. The efforts of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers as a professional organization in promoting the Environmental Ship Index scheme of the IAPH are laudable, the Minister added.

Sh. Vasan said that the economic downturn in various parts of the world has brought in distortions in global trade scenario and we need to realign the shipping capacities in line with the trade flows as they keep changing.

Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers (ICS) is having 34 Branches world-wide including three Branches in India. ICS has a strong professional membership of about 3500 out of which about 500 are from India. Initially started as “Institute of Shipbrokers” in London for the shipbrokers and ship-agents of U.K., today it has members all over the world.

Director General of Shipping, Dr. Satish Agnihotri; Joint Secretary, Ministry of Shipping, Mr. Rakesh Srivastava; Chairman, Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, UK, Mr. Karl Franz; President, ICS, UK, Mr. Alan Marsh; Chairman, ICS, Madras Branch, Capt. Ramakrishnan among others were also present.

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Source: Gov India, November 18, 2011