SHIPPING SECTOR’S PERFORMANCE IN
2002-2003 – A BIRDS EYE VIEW
The Shipping Ministry,
created in Nov. 2001, realising the great role of the Shipping
Industry in the rapid overall development of the country aimed
at self-reliance and dashing performance to achieve the specified
targets in each and every segment such as Shipping, Ship building,
Ports, Inland Water Transport etc. Sailing swiftly towards this
goal, the year 2002-03 is meritorious to the Shipping Ministry.
The Annual Report for 2002-03 of the Ministry of Shipping highlights
such achievements.
SHIPPING: In
the Ninth Five Year Plan Government have taken several measures
to encourage the growth of Indian Shipping Industry. The Ministry
has taken several proactive steps viz. simplification of guidelines
for import of ships, doing away with age norms etc. in order to
facilitate tonnage growth. Presently a proposal to introduce Tonnage
Tax in lieu of Corporate Tax is being pursued with the Ministry
of Finance. In the Tenth Five Year Plan promotion of EXIM trade
in general and foreign exchange earnings in particular, modernization
and diversification of Indian fleet have been accorded priority.
The other important step is to remove the constraints with a view
to achieve an addition of 3.26 million Gross Tonnage(GT) by acquisition
of 156 vessels of various categories during Tenth Plan period
by creating a conducive environment for raising resources from
the capital market and by way of external borrowings. The procedure
for recruitment, training and retention of man power in Indian
Flag vessels, making appropriate amendments to the Merchant Shipping
Act and ensuring speedy development of Coastal Shipping have also
been given priority.
India continues
to hold 17th rank among the world maritime nations
in terms of Gross Registered Tonnage(GRT) and 15th
position in terms of Dead Weight Tonnage (DWT). Indian Shipping
Tonnage which was only 1.92 lakhs Gross Registered Tonnage (GRT)
on the eve of Independence, now stands at 6.22 million GT as on
31.10.2002. 77 vessels totaling 251459 GT have actually been added
and 51 vessels totaling 1014496 GT have been deleted from the
Indian fleet during the period from 1.1.2002 to 31.10.2002.
The share of Indian
shipping in the carriage of liner cargo was about 5.90% during
the year 2001-02. However, the overall share of Indian ships in
the total overseas trade was around 16.96% during the same period.
As for the International
Conventions and Protocols, out of 44 instruments developed
by IMO (International Maritime Organization) 34 are in force internationally
and India has accorded to and ratified 28 instruments. International
Convention on
Tonnage Measurement of Ships, 1969 (Tonnage 1969) and International
Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Cooperation
1990 are a few examples of such instruments to quote. In fact,
India enacted a new Act namely Suppression of Unlawful Acts against
Safety of Maritime Navigation and Fixed Platforms on Continental
Shelf Act 2002 which is a combination of Convention and Protocol.
During the year under review India acceded to the International
Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims 1976
and a bilateral agreement on maritime shipping was signed by India
and Ukraine on October 3, 2002.
An inter-Government
Agreement on International North-South Transport Corridor Agreement
amongst India, Russia and Iran was signed and in its coordination
council meeting held on May 21, 2002 at St. Petersburg in Russia,
the modality for transport of goods through new land and sea route
between India and St Petersburg via Iran was worked out. India
will reap huge financial gains by becoming signatory to the NSCA
as it is open to other countries also. The new corridor could
compete well with the Suez Canal route since it is expected to
cut the travel time by 10-12 days against 35 days as also operational
costs by about 20%.
Indian Institute
of Maritime Studies, Mumbai, has been registered as a Society
under Societies Registration Act on 6th June, 2002
to give a qualitative boost to maritime training in India.
Shipping Corporation
of India: As on October 31, 2002, SCI, a Mini Ratna Company,
owns and operates 89 vessels of a total Gross Tonnage of 25.37
lakhs Gross Tonnes ( 43.12 lakhs Dead Weight Tonnage – DWT). In
January 2002, SCI merged with other lines forming a new Consortium
and offering a trade, a weekly container service in the Indian
sub-continent/U.K. continent sector. During the year under report
SCI also launched another joint container service viz. India Far
East Express - Two Services (INDFEX-2) at Chennai on June 16,
2002 linking the East Coast of India to the Northern Ports of
China. SCI has been rated as the excellent performer under Memorandum
of Understanding (MOU) evaluation system for the past seven years.
SHIPBUILDING AND
SHIP REPAIR
The Ministry renders
technical advice on matters relating to developmental facilities
for Shipbuilding and Ship repair, Fishing Trawlers and Floating
Crafts. As for R&D activities in shipbuilding two R&D
projects viz. Reliability of a Stiffened ship Decks and Fuzzy
Reliability and Structures have been completed. For the objective
of development of indigenous ship building in India the report
says Ministry has extended the Shipbuilding Subsidy Scheme for
Central Public Sector Shipyards not only for another five years
from August 2002 but also for Private Sector Shipyards.
National Ship
Design and Research Centre (NSDRC), Visakhapatnam established
to provide support to Indian Shipping Industry in Ship Designs,
Ocean/Water Transport Economy, Shipyard Management etc. studied
the technical feasibility of 400 Pax-cum-100 T cargo vessel at
HDPE under construction for 15 years, indicated that the project
is technically feasible and upgraded the lay-out to suit the new
regulations, space requirements etc. based on which A & N
Administration revived the project in 2002. The Centre has also
developed a system of Web based Managerial Information and Decision
Support (MIDS) for Ministry of Shipping for keep track of projects
worth more than Rs.5 crores. NSDRC also prepared and submitted
a report to ONGC in order to enable the latter to safeguard its
valuable assets in the Western Offshore region, planned for implementation
of Vessel and Air Traffic Management System.
Cochin Shipyard
Ltd. (CSL) : Of the 28 Shipyards in the country, Cochin Shipyard
Ltd., the largest shipyard and having ISO 9001 Certification for
Shipbuilding, Ship repair and Maritime Engineering Training, constructed
and delivered a 93000 DWT Double Hull Crude Oil Tanker (MT. MAHARSHI
PARASHURAM) a large ship to SCI in October 2002. LB-II, Cargo/Launch
Vessel built by CSL for the National Petroleum Construction Co.,
Abu Dhabi was commissioned by the Minister for Shipping, Mr. Shatrughan
Sinha in February, 2003.
Hindustan Shipyard
Ltd., Visakhapatnam, the first in the country to obtain ISO
9001 for Shipbuilding And Structural Fabrication has delivered
one 50 ton B.P. Tug to New Mangalore Port Trust in August 2002
and one 25 Ton B.P. Tug to Indian Navy in October 2002. The Annual
Report further says four 100 passenger vessels to A & N Administration,
two 45 ton Tug to Mormugoa Port Trust, one 50 ton Tug to Visakhapatnam
Port Trust are slated to be delivered before the financial year.
LIGHT HOUSE
During the year under
report the Light House Tender Vessel M.V. Sagardeep-II was constructed
by M/s. Hooghly Dock and Port Engineers Ltd. and was dedicated
to the nation on September 29, 2002. Work on the establishment
of Coastal Vessel Traffic Service in the Gulf of Kachchh in Gujarat
at an estimated cost of Rs. 165 crores to be shared by Kandla
Port Trust, Gujarat Maritime Board and Directorate General of
Lighthouses and Lightships commenced.
INLAND WATER TRANSPORT:
Inland Water Transport,
known as a fuel efficient, cost-effective and environment friendly
transport covers a distance of about 14,500 kms. With a view to
accelerate development of IWT and to encourage the involvement
of private sector, the Ministry issued a Notification that the
minimum rate of customs duty on equipment and machinery connected
to IWT sector be levied. Further, an Inland Building Subsidy Scheme
for providing 30% subsidy for inland vessels built in Indian Shipyard
and for operation on National Waterways, has come into effect
from April, 2002. Centrally sponsored scheme for State Governments
has been revised to provide 100% grant assistance to North-Eastern
States including Sikkim and 90% grant to other States for development
of their waterways. Three new Tugs built at a cost of Rs. 3.449
crores for National Waterways-I were commissioned during the year
under report. Similarly, NW-II received two pontoons to be used
as floating jetties in October 2002 and 3 pontoons were expected
to be completed shortly. Survey launch Suba Seri was built and
added to IWAI fleet for use in NW-2 during the year.
The Central Inland
Water Transport Corporation Ltd. is presently implementing a four
year restructuring scheme with a total Government assistance of
Rs. 139 crore Rajabagan Dockyard carried out the ship building
and ship repairing work during April-September 2002 to the total
value of Rs. 234 lakhs. The Asian Development Bank has agreed
for a technical assistance grant of US $ 1 million for updating
studies of various waterways proposed by IWAI for external funding.
The Planning Commission has made a provision of Rs.668 crores
for the Tenth Plan for the development of this sector as against
Rs.308 crores in the Ninth Plan.
PORTS: The
12 major ports, 6 on the West Coast and 6 on the East coast have
together handled a total traffic of 231.01 million tonnes up to
December 2002 as against total traffic of 287.59 million tonnes
in 2001-02 as per the Annual Report of the Ministry for 2002-2003.
Of this, Visakhapatnam Port tops the list having handled the traffic
of 34.17 MT followed by Kandla and Chennai 30.17 MT and 25.52
respectively. Haldia, Mumbai and JNPT have handled traffic of
20.87 MT, 20.80 MT and 20.00 MT in the order. As for the commodities
handled from April-December 2002, POL (Petroleum Oil Lubricant)
accounts to 35.88%, coal 15.18%, iron ore 15.02% and container
cargo 13.96%. The pre-berthing detention time for the ships in
all the ports is almost negligible.
As for the financial
results of Ports almost all the ports have shown operating surplus,
controlling the operating expenditure over operating income during
2001-2002. Kolkata Port emerges as top ranker with its operating
surplus of Rs.449.87 crores, next comes Visakapatnam Port with
Rs.174.52 crores and JNPT with Rs. 164.82 crores.
In order to decongest
the Major Ports, an outlay of Rs.5418.29 crores is envisaged in
the Tenth Plan for Port Sector for various projects. In addition,
projects involving an investment of more than Rs.11,000 crores
through private sector are also planned. The Government has laid
down guidelines for private sector participation in Major Ports.
