SHIPPING CORPORATION OF INDIA REPLACING ITS AGEING OIL TANKERS
Five crude oil tankers
of the Shipping Corporation of India are being replaced. Three
of these tankers of Newsbuilding Aframax size are being delivered
by South Korean ship builders, Hyundai Shipyard by August this
year. The other two crude oil tankers of Newsbuilding Suezmax
size are under construction at another South Korean shipbuilding
company, Daewoo Shipyard. These tankers would be delivered in
February and May next year. Stating this in a written reply in
the Lok Sabha today the Minister of State for Shipping, Mr. Dilipkumar
Mansukhlal Gandhi said that the Shipping Corporation of India
(SCI) has also planned to acquire two Newbuilding very large size
crude oil carriers (VLCCs) and one Newbuilding Aframax size crude
carrier to replace some other ageing tankers. He said that as
on April 24 this year the SCI has a fleet of 86 vessels of 4.32
million DWT and one ship on lease of 26,174 DWT. The Minister
said that as per the age norms of Government of India, the effective
life of vessels of various kinds is between 20 to 30 years.
In another written
reply Shri Gandhi said that the decision of the European Union
to phase out single hull oil tankers from European waters w.e.f.
July 1 this year would have no impact on the SCI’s tanker fleet.
He said that SCI has 8 single hull oil tankers that are over 23
years old. Six of them are operating between Persian Gulf and
India and remaining two on the country’s coasts. The Minister
added that the Directorate General of Shipping has issued a circular
in December last year telling all Indian ship owners about the
applicability of the mandatory Condition Assessment Scheme. The
Scheme is applicable to all category 1 vessels continuing to operate
after 2005, to category 2 vessels after 2010 and to category 3
vessels after 2015. Shri Gandhi said that India has already acceded
to International Convention for Prevention of Pollution from Ships,
1973 as amended by its Protocol, 1978 (MARPOL 1973/78). Regulation
13 G of the Convention envisages phasing out of world’s most single
hull tankers of 500 Gross Registered Tonnage by the year 2015.
