D-G Shipping crackdown, shipbuilding tensions & port concessions: What was important in the week gone by!
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India's bid to grab a larger slice of the seafarers required by the global shipping industry has, of late, been dented by reports of unapproved private entities offering competency certificates that does not fit with the training and assessment standards set by India following a structured programme of examination, assessment and certification, as per a global treaty known as the STCW Convention adopted by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).The Indian seafarers were lured by authorised as well as unauthorised manning agents to take up assignments on foreign flagged ships without adequate scrutiny of the fraudulent certificates issued to them.To curb the fraudulent practices, India's Directorate General of Shipping issued an order on July 18, banning Indian seafarers holding certificates issued by the maritime administration of countries that are not recognised by India from sailing on foreign flagged ships.The order, though, sparked widespread protests over fears that it would render thousands of seafarers jobless and led to a court case.On August 1, the day when the Bombay High Court heard the petition filed by a couple of seafarers, the D G Shipping issued a new order prohibiting foreign governments, maritime administrations, agencies, institutions, or representatives from conducting maritime training, including online or distance learning accessible in India, leading to issuance of seafarers' competency certificates under the STCW Convention, without its prior written approval.The new order strikes at the very root of the malaise and is not seen as overtly hitting the seafarers, some of whom might have wittingly or unwittingly fallen for the trap, in their desire to get jobs on board ships, and took a shortcut to attain competency certificates. It also seeks to rectify the situation by asking the unauthorised private entities to fall in line with Indian laws.ET Infra reported in detail the moves by D G Shipping aimed at ensuring that India becomes a bigger supplier of quality crew to the global shipping industry.In other significant developments of the week, we reported that Prime Minister Narendra Modi 's ambitious plans for India's shipbuilding industry are facing resistance from local fleet owners due to reasons explained in this article.But that hasn't deterred policy makers from finalising the technical specifications for constructing so-called Very Large Gas Carriers (VLGC's) locally.Meanwhile, India's oil and gas giant, ONGC Ltd, is scouting for local shipyards to build so-called Platform Supply Vessels that are used to support oil and gas drilling operations along the coast.Russia-backed Nayara Energy is being squeezed from all sides as the latest round of sanctions by the EU on the refiner based in Gujarat has forced a couple of Indian ship owners to back out of contracts for hauling petroleum products along the coastET Infra also reported how the Andhra Pradesh government led by N Chandrababu Naidu facilitated a key captive port facility for the integrated steel plant proposed by ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India by tweaking the concession agreement for the Kakinada Gateway Port Let us know what stood out most this week and how we can make your infra brief even more insightful.
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