India’s shipping industry has come a long way since 1947. On the eve of independence, the Indian fleet consisted of just 59 vessels, of which, 48 ships were engaged in coastal trade and the remainder in overseas trade.
The industry has grown exponentially since, increasing its fleet to 1,040 vessels, with a gross registered tonnage of 10.16 million as of December 21, 2010. Out of these, 700 vessels are deployed in coastal trade and remaining 340 vessels in overseas trade.
Shipping is central to India’s growing economy. Approximately 95% of trade by volume and 70% by value in India move via maritime transport. India’s fleet of merchant ships is among the top 20 largest in the world.
Infrastructure challenges, however, still hamper India’s shipping industry. And port development is its most pressing issue. Port capacity in India has failed to keep pace with the country’s surging growth. In India, ports are still largely state funded. This is due to the large amount of time and resources required to develop projects. Besides, the factor of uncertainty associated with the port development places the onus on state governments to develop ports in their own states.
This is now changing. The last decade has since significant private sector investment in Indian ports following the lead Pipapav, developed by the Dutch company APM Terminals to handle Gujarat’s frozen fish packing industry. Ports like Krishnapatnam in Andrah Pradesh offer an attractive alternative to public facilities.
The Ministry of Shipping has also introduced policies that encourage this private port investment. The private ports, like much private infrastructure have in other sectors of the Indian economy, have sprung up to replace what industry sees as outmoded facilities.
The shipping industry first came under the Department of War Transport, which was formed in July 1942. Water transport and port development were the major shipping industry functions allocated to the department. Several changes in the organizational set up occurred over the next 15 years. In 1957, the Department of War Transport was renamed Ministry of Transport and Communications. Under this ministry, Department of Transport was formed to handle the shipping-related functions. In January 1966, responsibility for shipping was transferred to the Department of Transport, Shipping & Tourism formed under the Ministry of Transport and Aviation. This ministry was later divided into the Ministry of Shipping & Transport and Ministry of Tourism & Civil Aviation. In 1985, the ministries and departments in the country were reorganized. During this time, the Ministry of Transport & Shipping was reorganized again as the Department of Surface Transport and placed under the Ministry of Transport. Later, the ministry was renamed the Ministry of Surface Transport.
In 1999, the Ministry of Surface Transport was again reorganized into Department of Shipping and Department of Road Transport & Highways. The ministry was later bifurcated into Ministry of Shipping and Ministry of Road Transport & Highways. These ministries were merged in 2004 and called the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways. Most recently, in 2009, this ministry was split again into two independent ministries: Shipping and Road Transport & Highways.
The Ministry of Shipping ensures safety and efficiency in the shipping industry. The ministry develops policies and establishes guidelines. The ministry other main objectives include promoting inland water transport and monitoring port development. It works towards augmenting port capacity to meet international standards to increase global trade. Further, the ministry implements and monitors the National Maritime Development Program.
Other ministry functions include maritime shipping and navigation, and educating and training the mercantile marine. It also develops lighthouses and lightships. The ministry looks over the functioning of shipbuilding, ship-repair, fishing vessels and floating craft industries. Apart from this, the ministry also organizes and maintains of mainland islands and inter-island shipping services.
Attached Bodies or Autonomous Bodies
Directorate General of Shipping (DGS)
The main function of the Directorate General of Shipping is to implement policies related to the shipping sector. Through these policies, DGS seeks to ensure safety of life and properties at sea. It also works towards prevention of marine pollution and promotes maritime education and training with International Maritime Organization. Apart from this, DGS is responsible for development of coastal shipping and augmentation of shipping tonnage. It also conducts examinations and certification of merchant navy officers.
Andaman and Lakshadweep Harbor Works (ALHW)
Andaman and Lakshadweep Harbor Works were set up to formulate and implement the government programs of port and harbor development in Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep. ALHW was set up in 1985 and have been implementing the port development schemes in these islands since then.
Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships (DGLL)
Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lights provide general support to marine navigation along the Indian coast. It provides visual aids that include lighthouses, lightships, beacons and buoys. It also provides radio aids such as DGPS, Racon and Loaran-C. DGLL now also provides user interactive aids through Vessel Traffic Service. The aids are classified as “General” and “Local.” The local aids are responsibility of state government and the general aids are responsibility of DGLL. DGLL can, however, inspect the local aids set-up and managed by the State governments.
Minor Ports Survey Organization (MPSO)
Minor Ports Survey Organization has been set up as an agency under the directorate general of shipping. Their main function is to carry out hydrographic surveys of India’s ports.
Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP)
Established in April 1997, the Tariff Authority for Major Ports acts as an independent authority to regulate tariffs for vessels and cargoes. It also sets lease rates for major port trusts.
Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI)
The Indian Waterways Authority of India was set up in October 1986 to develop and regulate inland waterways for transport. IWAI take up the development of inland waterway projects and maintains existing projects.
Major Port Trusts
Major ports in the country are governed by trusts that have been set up under the Major Ports Trust Act of 1963. Under this act, the government of India has appointed a board of trustees, by their designations, to govern each major port of the country. The major port trusts of the country are:
The oldest port in the country, Kolkata serves not just West Bengal but the nearby states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Nepal and Bhutan.
The first port built after independence, Odisha’s Paradip was opened in 1966. It lies on the Bay of Bengal, midway between Vishakhapatnam in Andrah Pradesh and Kolkatta. Paradip handles large containers from not just Odisha but the nearby eastern states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. Paradip is currently in the process of doubling its capacity.
Andrah Pradesh’s main port was opened during Bristish rule in 1933. It’s main purpose then was to move large quantities of Manganese ore offshore. After Independence, Vishakhapatnam grew to also handle importation of compressed natural gas and petroleum. After 1980, the port was expanded to accommodate container traffic. After 2000, it was further enlarged to harbor Panamax vessels.
South India’s most important port, Chennai began handling container traffic in the 1970s. As industry in Tamil Nadu has grown through the proliferation of Special Economic Zones, Chennai has increased its output. Today, it handles electronics exports from nearby Sriperumbudur, garments from Tirupur and exports cars from both domestic and foreign auto companies who manufacture in and around Sriperumbudur. The Chennai Port has recently drawn criticism for huge delays and congestion, leading many exporters to shift their business to the recently constructed private port at Krishnapatnam, about 180 kilometres from Chennai.
The V.O. Chidambaranar Port Trust
The V.O. Chidambaranar Port Trust sits at India’s southernmost, just across the Gulf of Mannar from Sri Lanka, in the small city of Tuticorin. Though its one of the country’s smaller ports in terms of cargo, handling just 2,37,87,000 tons in fiscal year 2009, it’s location allows provides excellent access to the shipping lanes headed to the Gulf, Africa and Asia. In addition, Tuticorin is only South Indian port that offers weekly container service to America. The port also recently expanded to handle Panamax vessels. Turicorin’s location makes it an important transhipment link for container traffic headed to and from Sri Lanka’s port of Colombo. In 2011, ferry service was again restarted from Tuticorin to Colombo, a sign of attempts to encourage the flow of people and goods between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka following the country’s almost three-decade civil war.
One of India’s oldest trading hubs Cochin in Kerala has hosted traders from Europe, the Middle East and East Asia since the middle of the last millenium. Cochin, which advertises itself as India’s first E-Port, is currently developing an onsite Special Economic Zone. It’s location on the Arabian Sea provides ready access to the Singapore and Suez sea lanes.
Built in 1989, to add capacity to nearby Mumbai, JNP is now India’s busiest port, handling 60% of the country’s container traffic. Colloquilly called Nhava Sheva, JNPT sprawls across 10 kilometres on the mainland of the state of Maharastra, across the Thane creek from Mumbai, which is an island. Cargo from smaller ports on the West Coast and from rail and road from North India, makes JNP a hub for textiles, rugs, garments and pharmaceuticals. The planned $90 billion Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor, which will terminate at JNP, will increase the flow of goods in both directions.
The new Mangalore Port is located in Panambur, Karnataka about 170 nautical miles from Mormugao. India’s ninth largest port, it was opened in 1975 by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Exports include iron ore, granite and coffee – more than 70% of India’s production comes from Karnataka. Major imports include petroleum, natural gas, wood products and chemicals.
Built in 1888, Goa’s Mormugao mostly handles the state’s huge reserves of iron ore reserves. In recent years, facilities have been expanded to handle some container traffic.
Traditionally, the busiest and most well-known of India’s ports, Mumbai now ranks second to nearby JNP. Since JNP handles most of the container traffic, Mumbai now focuses on both wet and dry bulk cargo.
Kandla Port Trust
Though a port existed in this Gujarat city from 1931 onwards, after independence from British India, the country’s northwest coast needed a port to replace Karachi, which became part of Pakistan. The expanded facilities opened in 1955 and the trust was established in 1963 to manage the port. In 1965, the Kandla Special Economic Zone became Asia’s first SEZ. As Gujarat’s largest port, Kandla exports categories like textiles, garments and chemicals. Kandla has the largest capacity in India for storing liquid and special pipeline facilities for chemicals.
Public Sector Undertakings
Shipping Corporation of India (SCI)
Shipping Corporation of India is the largest shipping country in the country. It was established in October 1961 by merging the Eastern Shipping Corporation and Western Shipping Corporation. Today, SCI owns and operates about one-third of gross Indian tonnage. It is present in all areas of shipping business such international container, bulk break, offshore and passenger services.
Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSI)
Cochin Shipyard is the largest shipbuilding and ship-repair company in India. It was set up in 1972 to build large shipping vessels. In 1982, the company began repairing ships. As per its current capacity, the company can build ships of up to 1,10,000 DWT and take up the repair works of ships up to 1,25,000 DWT. It is situated at the Cochin port in Kerala.
Central Inland Water Transport Corporation Limited (CIWTCL)
Central Inland Water Transport Corporation was set up in 1967 by acquiring the River Steam Navigation & Co. CIWTCL was established to develop Indian Water Transport systems. The company, at present, establishes, operates and maintains the inland water transport systems of the country. It also builds and repairs vessels for the Inland water transport.
Dredging Corporation of India (DCI)
Dredging Corporation of India was set up in 1976 for providing dredging at the country’s ports. The company’s main objective is ensuring the desired depth at ports, channels and harbors. The head office of the company is located at Vishakhapatnam, one of the busiest ports in India.
Hooghly Dock & Ports Engineers Limited (HDPEL)
Hooghly Dock & Port Engineers Limited is one of India’s oldest shipyards. The company was set up in 1819 as a private sector company in Kolkata. After making losses for a long time, the government of India nationalized the company. The company became a public sector utility in 1984 through an act of Parliament. The main idea behind nationalizing HDPEL was utilizing pre-existing infrastructure by modernizing it. HDPEL has two units located near River Hooghly to carry out building and repair work of vessels.
Ennore Port Limited (EPL)
Ennore Port Limited is the first port established as a public sector company. The first phase of Ennore Port started operations in December 2002. Initially, the port was developed to import coal for the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board’s coal-fired thermal power plants. However, the scope of the port was expanded to handle other infrastructure projects coming up in the State.
Sethusamudram Corporation Limited (SCL)
Sethusamudram Corporation Limited has been set up to implement the Sethusamudram Channel project. The project envisages dredging of the ship channel across Palk straits between India and Sri Lanka. There are two channels identified in the straits combined length of 89 kilometers.
The Ministry of Shipping industry was allocated a total of Rs. 6524.92 crore ($1176.668 million USD) in 2011-12. Out of this, Rs. 912.69 crore ($164.59 million USD) was spent on ports and lighthouses; the shipping industry, which also includes shipbuilding, received Rs. 690.91 crore ($124.59 million USD); and inland water transport was handed Rs. 76.13 crore ($13.72 million USD). Among other major apportionments, the Dredging Corporation of India took Rs. 498.43 crore ($89.88 million USD), the major port trusts received a total of Rs. 1522.39 crore ($274.53 million USD) and the Shipping Corporation of India was allocated Rs. 3712 crore ($669.40 million USD). The Ministry of Shipping was unable to spend 17.7% of 2011-12’s allocated funds.
For the year 2012-13, the ministry has been allocated Rs. 5,675 crore ($1023.298 million USD). As compared to 2011-12, the government allocated higher amounts to Jawaharlal Nehru Port trust, Mumbai Port Trust and Dredging Corporation of India. These companies received total funds of Rs. 1,595 crore ($287.63 million USD).
Exxon Valdez Comes to India to Die
If you were to think of the last ship you’d want landing on your shores, it likely be the Exxon Valdez. In 1989, the oil tanker crashed in Alaska, disgorging masses of crude oil, wreaking havoc on the surrounding ecosystem. The spill killed tens of thousands of otters, birds and seals. Since then, the ship has undergone several name changes. They include Oriental Nicety, Exxon Mediterranean, Sea River Mediterranean, S/R Mediterranean, Mediterranean, and Dong Fang Ocean.
Even though the Valdez has a new name, MV Oriental N, Indian environmentalists are dead against the vessel landing in India, where it will be scrapped for parts. Conservationists, led by Gopal Krishna of the Toxics Watch Alliance, appealed to the Supreme Court of India in spring of 2012 to stop the boat from landing. But in July 2012 the Supreme Court allowed the erstwhile Exxon Valdez to be dismantled in Alang, Gujarat. It has yet to be scrapped.
Court Gives Nod for Beaching of US ship (The Hindu)
India Allows Dismantling of Alaska Tanker Exxon Valdez (BBC)
Supreme Court Orders of 3rd-11th, & 14th May on Exxon Valdez (MV Oriental Nicety, MV Oriental N) Case (IMO Watch)
Letter to Supreme Court: Send dead toxic US ship, Exxon Valdez (now named MV Oriental N) away from Indian waters (by Gopal Krishna, IMO Watch)
Movement of US ship Exxon Valdez in Indian waters illegal: ToxicsWatch (Our Bureau, The HinduBusinessline)
E-Waste Illegally Enters India
Alongside other poor countries like China and Ghana, India has become a graveyard for the first world’s electronics. UN convention against shipping E-waste, they are often circumvented through fraudulent shipping manifests, which describe cargo as secondhand electronics being donated to poor countries. In reality, these ships usually contain ancient monitors, computer towers and cell phones that are even obsolete by Third World standards. They are then routed to huge informal E-waste dumps like Seelampur in East Delhi, where they often melted down to retrieve precious metals using very crude methods. This process discharges harmful chemicals like cadmium, dioxin, furan, chlorine, bromine, polyvinyl chloride, which can enter groundwater and lead to birth defects and life-threatening diseases.
Experts: India Dumping Ground For E-waste (Associated Press)
Electronic Waste: Where Does It Go and What Happens To It? (by Michelle Castillo, Time Magazine)
Should India Scrap Shipbreaking?
There are few industries with as nasty a reputation as shipbreaking. Alongside Bangladesh, Gujarat’s Alang Beach has become a premier graveyard for ships. Besides the inherent environmental hazards, there are also significant labor rights violations committed by owners of the shipbreaking yards. The 40,000 people who have populated Alang have created a makeshift village of mostly migrant laborers. In 2004, the Canadian filmmaker Michael Kot made Shipbreakers, a documentary that revealed that many decommissioned ships often contain PCBs and asbestos and many workers later contract cancer.
Pro-Shipbreaking
India’s shipbreaking industry has an active lobby that likes to point out that shipbreaking employs 40,000 in Alang alone and the decommissioned ships are a hugely important source of steel for a growing economy. As The Ship Recycling Industries Association argues on its website, producing steel through recycling ships is twenty times cheaper than through conventional means.
Obama's usepa allows dumping of toxic navy ships (IMO Watch)
Global Shipping LLC and Global Marketing System, Inc. to pay penalties for PCB export violations involving Oceanic (EPA.gov)
Anti-Shipbreaking
Shipbreaking advocates like Gopal Krishna say there are many problems with shipbreaking. Migrants from poor states like Odisha, UP and Bihar comprise a captive labor force making as little as RS. 100 ($2 USD) a day, while being exposed to toxic chemicals like PCBs and asbestos. Krishna also argues that with the renaming and re-flagging of ships, it’s often difficult to figure out the provenance of the vessel landing on your shores. In the case of the Exxon Valdez, the infamous tanker changed names more than five times before stopping in Alang. Black money is also a major problem. Krishna says that because it’s impossible to verify the identities of the ships’ investors, some of these ships could be used as vehicles for money laundering.
Banned in 52 countries, asbestos is India’s next big killer (by Murali Krishnan and Shantanu Guha Ray, Tehelka)
Another ‘toxic’ ship sails towards Alang, raises eyebrows (Express News Service)
Role in the steel economy (Ship Recycling Industries Association)
Should India Build the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project?
The ambitious Sethusamudram project, envisioned by the government of India more than a decade ago, has hit a few snags. The project is being developed to provide direct navigation from India’s West coast to East coast. At present, even though the South India is surrounded by sea, it’s impossible to travel through Indian waters between the West and East coast in large boats because the water is too shallow and a chain of limestone shoals make the Strait impassable in large vessels. The Sethusamudram project would dig out a deep-water route in the Palk strait between India and Sri Lanka. At present, even large Indian Navy ships have to circle Sri Lanka to travel between India’s East and West coasts.
Anti-Sethusamudram
Even though the project has military and economic importance, several organizations say the project will interfere with the mythological Ram Setu Bridge, which is also called Adam’s Bridge. According to Hindu mythology, Lord Rama built this bridge – all that remains are the shoals – to reach to Ravana, who according to the Ramayana reigned over present day Sri Lanka between 2554 BC and 2517 BC. Several petitions were filed in the Supreme Court of India against Sethusamudram project, to which the court directed the Central government to suggest an alternate route.
Opposition to the project isn’t just sentimental. According to one leading environmentalist Tad Murthy of the University of Ottawa, removing shoals will leave much of India’s West Coast even more exposed the next time a catastrophe like the 2004 Asian tsunami strikes.
SSCP – A Monument of Fraud and Infamy (by V. Sundaram, Boloji.com)
Pro-Sethusamudram
The Central government formed a committee, who found the only alternate routes to be both economically and ecologically unviable. The Central government hasn’t made a final decision. Proponents of the project would like to be able to route heavy ship traffic from one side of India to the other without having to travel all the way around Sri Lanka, a country that is now more closely allied with China than India. Indian and Sri Lankan relations around the Palk Strait are still strained, with the Sri Lankan Navy often arresting and sometimes shooting and killing Indian fishermen. Not being able to navigate the strait also has defense implications since China’s string of pearls strategy involves building ports in Burma, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to encircle India.
Indian fishermen are of two schools of thought. Some have expressed the view that deepening the strait would mean access to deep-water fish without having to use as much fuel to travel farther afield and into Sri Lankan waters, where they also risk losing their lives to earn a living. Other fishermen, however, side with environmentalists who say that dredging the bottom and destroying Adam’s Bridge will disrupt a fragile ecosystem and hurt fish stocks.
Alternative route for Sethusamudram project not feasible: Government tells Supreme Court (NDTV)
Simplify Clearance Process to Improve Infrastructure
Most industry experts feel that the shipping industry has been lagging behind other transport sectors such as roads and civil aviation. Majority of the shipping industry projects in the country are facing delays due to license and clearance processes. Further, development of ports and policy formulation in the sector has been rather slow due to which the sector has suffered. Industry experts believe the sector requires bold reforms. As a result, many private ports are being developed to tackle stifling delays at public ones. For industrialists in Tamil Nadu, for example, it’s often faster to drive to Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh rather than face huge traffic delays at the Port of Chennai.
Time to Unleash Port & Shipping Sector Reforms (Shipping Biz 360)
T.R. Baalu (August 2004-May 2009)
A native of Tamil Nadu, T.R. Baalu was born in 1941.
Baalu was the Union Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways between 2004-2009. He is a member of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) Party and represents the highly industrialized Sriperumbudur constituency in the current Lok Sabha.
His political career started at 16. He has been a member of DMK since 1957. In 1986, he was elected as a member of Rajya Sabha. He was elected to Lok Sabha for the first time in 1996. He was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1998, 1999 and 2004 from the Chennai (South) constituency.
Before becoming the Union Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, he served as the Union Minister of Environment and Forests. Baalu graduated with a degree in Science and also has a diploma in engineering.
1n 2009, he was elected again for the current Lok Sabha from Sriperumbudur.
Shatrughan Sinha (February 2003 - August 2004)
Shatrughan Sinha held the office of Cabinet Minister of Shipping for a brief period from February 2003 to August 2004. He held two portfolios during this time, concurrently serving as the Union Cabinet Minister of Health and Family Welfare. He is a film actor-turned-politician who has been elected twice to the Rajya Sabha. He has also been elected in the current Lok Sabha in 2009 from the Patna Sahib Constituency in Bihar.
- Table of Contents
- Overview
- History
- What it Does
- Where Does the Money Go
- Controversies
- Debate
- Suggested Reforms
- Former Directors
- Comments
- Leave a comment
Ministry of Shipping
India’s shipping industry has come a long way since 1947. On the eve of independence, the Indian fleet consisted of just 59 vessels, of which, 48 ships were engaged in coastal trade and the remainder in overseas trade.
The industry has grown exponentially since, increasing its fleet to 1,040 vessels, with a gross registered tonnage of 10.16 million as of December 21, 2010. Out of these, 700 vessels are deployed in coastal trade and remaining 340 vessels in overseas trade.
Shipping is central to India’s growing economy. Approximately 95% of trade by volume and 70% by value in India move via maritime transport. India’s fleet of merchant ships is among the top 20 largest in the world.
Infrastructure challenges, however, still hamper India’s shipping industry. And port development is its most pressing issue. Port capacity in India has failed to keep pace with the country’s surging growth. In India, ports are still largely state funded. This is due to the large amount of time and resources required to develop projects. Besides, the factor of uncertainty associated with the port development places the onus on state governments to develop ports in their own states.
This is now changing. The last decade has since significant private sector investment in Indian ports following the lead Pipapav, developed by the Dutch company APM Terminals to handle Gujarat’s frozen fish packing industry. Ports like Krishnapatnam in Andrah Pradesh offer an attractive alternative to public facilities.
The Ministry of Shipping has also introduced policies that encourage this private port investment. The private ports, like much private infrastructure have in other sectors of the Indian economy, have sprung up to replace what industry sees as outmoded facilities.
The shipping industry first came under the Department of War Transport, which was formed in July 1942. Water transport and port development were the major shipping industry functions allocated to the department. Several changes in the organizational set up occurred over the next 15 years. In 1957, the Department of War Transport was renamed Ministry of Transport and Communications. Under this ministry, Department of Transport was formed to handle the shipping-related functions. In January 1966, responsibility for shipping was transferred to the Department of Transport, Shipping & Tourism formed under the Ministry of Transport and Aviation. This ministry was later divided into the Ministry of Shipping & Transport and Ministry of Tourism & Civil Aviation. In 1985, the ministries and departments in the country were reorganized. During this time, the Ministry of Transport & Shipping was reorganized again as the Department of Surface Transport and placed under the Ministry of Transport. Later, the ministry was renamed the Ministry of Surface Transport.
In 1999, the Ministry of Surface Transport was again reorganized into Department of Shipping and Department of Road Transport & Highways. The ministry was later bifurcated into Ministry of Shipping and Ministry of Road Transport & Highways. These ministries were merged in 2004 and called the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways. Most recently, in 2009, this ministry was split again into two independent ministries: Shipping and Road Transport & Highways.
The Ministry of Shipping ensures safety and efficiency in the shipping industry. The ministry develops policies and establishes guidelines. The ministry other main objectives include promoting inland water transport and monitoring port development. It works towards augmenting port capacity to meet international standards to increase global trade. Further, the ministry implements and monitors the National Maritime Development Program.
Other ministry functions include maritime shipping and navigation, and educating and training the mercantile marine. It also develops lighthouses and lightships. The ministry looks over the functioning of shipbuilding, ship-repair, fishing vessels and floating craft industries. Apart from this, the ministry also organizes and maintains of mainland islands and inter-island shipping services.
Attached Bodies or Autonomous Bodies
Directorate General of Shipping (DGS)
The main function of the Directorate General of Shipping is to implement policies related to the shipping sector. Through these policies, DGS seeks to ensure safety of life and properties at sea. It also works towards prevention of marine pollution and promotes maritime education and training with International Maritime Organization. Apart from this, DGS is responsible for development of coastal shipping and augmentation of shipping tonnage. It also conducts examinations and certification of merchant navy officers.
Andaman and Lakshadweep Harbor Works (ALHW)
Andaman and Lakshadweep Harbor Works were set up to formulate and implement the government programs of port and harbor development in Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep. ALHW was set up in 1985 and have been implementing the port development schemes in these islands since then.
Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships (DGLL)
Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lights provide general support to marine navigation along the Indian coast. It provides visual aids that include lighthouses, lightships, beacons and buoys. It also provides radio aids such as DGPS, Racon and Loaran-C. DGLL now also provides user interactive aids through Vessel Traffic Service. The aids are classified as “General” and “Local.” The local aids are responsibility of state government and the general aids are responsibility of DGLL. DGLL can, however, inspect the local aids set-up and managed by the State governments.
Minor Ports Survey Organization (MPSO)
Minor Ports Survey Organization has been set up as an agency under the directorate general of shipping. Their main function is to carry out hydrographic surveys of India’s ports.
Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP)
Established in April 1997, the Tariff Authority for Major Ports acts as an independent authority to regulate tariffs for vessels and cargoes. It also sets lease rates for major port trusts.
Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI)
The Indian Waterways Authority of India was set up in October 1986 to develop and regulate inland waterways for transport. IWAI take up the development of inland waterway projects and maintains existing projects.
Major Port Trusts
Major ports in the country are governed by trusts that have been set up under the Major Ports Trust Act of 1963. Under this act, the government of India has appointed a board of trustees, by their designations, to govern each major port of the country. The major port trusts of the country are:
The oldest port in the country, Kolkata serves not just West Bengal but the nearby states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Nepal and Bhutan.
The first port built after independence, Odisha’s Paradip was opened in 1966. It lies on the Bay of Bengal, midway between Vishakhapatnam in Andrah Pradesh and Kolkatta. Paradip handles large containers from not just Odisha but the nearby eastern states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. Paradip is currently in the process of doubling its capacity.
Andrah Pradesh’s main port was opened during Bristish rule in 1933. It’s main purpose then was to move large quantities of Manganese ore offshore. After Independence, Vishakhapatnam grew to also handle importation of compressed natural gas and petroleum. After 1980, the port was expanded to accommodate container traffic. After 2000, it was further enlarged to harbor Panamax vessels.
South India’s most important port, Chennai began handling container traffic in the 1970s. As industry in Tamil Nadu has grown through the proliferation of Special Economic Zones, Chennai has increased its output. Today, it handles electronics exports from nearby Sriperumbudur, garments from Tirupur and exports cars from both domestic and foreign auto companies who manufacture in and around Sriperumbudur. The Chennai Port has recently drawn criticism for huge delays and congestion, leading many exporters to shift their business to the recently constructed private port at Krishnapatnam, about 180 kilometres from Chennai.
The V.O. Chidambaranar Port Trust
The V.O. Chidambaranar Port Trust sits at India’s southernmost, just across the Gulf of Mannar from Sri Lanka, in the small city of Tuticorin. Though its one of the country’s smaller ports in terms of cargo, handling just 2,37,87,000 tons in fiscal year 2009, it’s location allows provides excellent access to the shipping lanes headed to the Gulf, Africa and Asia. In addition, Tuticorin is only South Indian port that offers weekly container service to America. The port also recently expanded to handle Panamax vessels. Turicorin’s location makes it an important transhipment link for container traffic headed to and from Sri Lanka’s port of Colombo. In 2011, ferry service was again restarted from Tuticorin to Colombo, a sign of attempts to encourage the flow of people and goods between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka following the country’s almost three-decade civil war.
One of India’s oldest trading hubs Cochin in Kerala has hosted traders from Europe, the Middle East and East Asia since the middle of the last millenium. Cochin, which advertises itself as India’s first E-Port, is currently developing an onsite Special Economic Zone. It’s location on the Arabian Sea provides ready access to the Singapore and Suez sea lanes.
Built in 1989, to add capacity to nearby Mumbai, JNP is now India’s busiest port, handling 60% of the country’s container traffic. Colloquilly called Nhava Sheva, JNPT sprawls across 10 kilometres on the mainland of the state of Maharastra, across the Thane creek from Mumbai, which is an island. Cargo from smaller ports on the West Coast and from rail and road from North India, makes JNP a hub for textiles, rugs, garments and pharmaceuticals. The planned $90 billion Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor, which will terminate at JNP, will increase the flow of goods in both directions.
The new Mangalore Port is located in Panambur, Karnataka about 170 nautical miles from Mormugao. India’s ninth largest port, it was opened in 1975 by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Exports include iron ore, granite and coffee – more than 70% of India’s production comes from Karnataka. Major imports include petroleum, natural gas, wood products and chemicals.
Built in 1888, Goa’s Mormugao mostly handles the state’s huge reserves of iron ore reserves. In recent years, facilities have been expanded to handle some container traffic.
Traditionally, the busiest and most well-known of India’s ports, Mumbai now ranks second to nearby JNP. Since JNP handles most of the container traffic, Mumbai now focuses on both wet and dry bulk cargo.
Kandla Port Trust
Though a port existed in this Gujarat city from 1931 onwards, after independence from British India, the country’s northwest coast needed a port to replace Karachi, which became part of Pakistan. The expanded facilities opened in 1955 and the trust was established in 1963 to manage the port. In 1965, the Kandla Special Economic Zone became Asia’s first SEZ. As Gujarat’s largest port, Kandla exports categories like textiles, garments and chemicals. Kandla has the largest capacity in India for storing liquid and special pipeline facilities for chemicals.
Public Sector Undertakings
Shipping Corporation of India (SCI)
Shipping Corporation of India is the largest shipping country in the country. It was established in October 1961 by merging the Eastern Shipping Corporation and Western Shipping Corporation. Today, SCI owns and operates about one-third of gross Indian tonnage. It is present in all areas of shipping business such international container, bulk break, offshore and passenger services.
Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSI)
Cochin Shipyard is the largest shipbuilding and ship-repair company in India. It was set up in 1972 to build large shipping vessels. In 1982, the company began repairing ships. As per its current capacity, the company can build ships of up to 1,10,000 DWT and take up the repair works of ships up to 1,25,000 DWT. It is situated at the Cochin port in Kerala.
Central Inland Water Transport Corporation Limited (CIWTCL)
Central Inland Water Transport Corporation was set up in 1967 by acquiring the River Steam Navigation & Co. CIWTCL was established to develop Indian Water Transport systems. The company, at present, establishes, operates and maintains the inland water transport systems of the country. It also builds and repairs vessels for the Inland water transport.
Dredging Corporation of India (DCI)
Dredging Corporation of India was set up in 1976 for providing dredging at the country’s ports. The company’s main objective is ensuring the desired depth at ports, channels and harbors. The head office of the company is located at Vishakhapatnam, one of the busiest ports in India.
Hooghly Dock & Ports Engineers Limited (HDPEL)
Hooghly Dock & Port Engineers Limited is one of India’s oldest shipyards. The company was set up in 1819 as a private sector company in Kolkata. After making losses for a long time, the government of India nationalized the company. The company became a public sector utility in 1984 through an act of Parliament. The main idea behind nationalizing HDPEL was utilizing pre-existing infrastructure by modernizing it. HDPEL has two units located near River Hooghly to carry out building and repair work of vessels.
Ennore Port Limited (EPL)
Ennore Port Limited is the first port established as a public sector company. The first phase of Ennore Port started operations in December 2002. Initially, the port was developed to import coal for the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board’s coal-fired thermal power plants. However, the scope of the port was expanded to handle other infrastructure projects coming up in the State.
Sethusamudram Corporation Limited (SCL)
Sethusamudram Corporation Limited has been set up to implement the Sethusamudram Channel project. The project envisages dredging of the ship channel across Palk straits between India and Sri Lanka. There are two channels identified in the straits combined length of 89 kilometers.
The Ministry of Shipping industry was allocated a total of Rs. 6524.92 crore ($1176.668 million USD) in 2011-12. Out of this, Rs. 912.69 crore ($164.59 million USD) was spent on ports and lighthouses; the shipping industry, which also includes shipbuilding, received Rs. 690.91 crore ($124.59 million USD); and inland water transport was handed Rs. 76.13 crore ($13.72 million USD). Among other major apportionments, the Dredging Corporation of India took Rs. 498.43 crore ($89.88 million USD), the major port trusts received a total of Rs. 1522.39 crore ($274.53 million USD) and the Shipping Corporation of India was allocated Rs. 3712 crore ($669.40 million USD). The Ministry of Shipping was unable to spend 17.7% of 2011-12’s allocated funds.
For the year 2012-13, the ministry has been allocated Rs. 5,675 crore ($1023.298 million USD). As compared to 2011-12, the government allocated higher amounts to Jawaharlal Nehru Port trust, Mumbai Port Trust and Dredging Corporation of India. These companies received total funds of Rs. 1,595 crore ($287.63 million USD).
Exxon Valdez Comes to India to Die
If you were to think of the last ship you’d want landing on your shores, it likely be the Exxon Valdez. In 1989, the oil tanker crashed in Alaska, disgorging masses of crude oil, wreaking havoc on the surrounding ecosystem. The spill killed tens of thousands of otters, birds and seals. Since then, the ship has undergone several name changes. They include Oriental Nicety, Exxon Mediterranean, Sea River Mediterranean, S/R Mediterranean, Mediterranean, and Dong Fang Ocean.
Even though the Valdez has a new name, MV Oriental N, Indian environmentalists are dead against the vessel landing in India, where it will be scrapped for parts. Conservationists, led by Gopal Krishna of the Toxics Watch Alliance, appealed to the Supreme Court of India in spring of 2012 to stop the boat from landing. But in July 2012 the Supreme Court allowed the erstwhile Exxon Valdez to be dismantled in Alang, Gujarat. It has yet to be scrapped.
Court Gives Nod for Beaching of US ship (The Hindu)
India Allows Dismantling of Alaska Tanker Exxon Valdez (BBC)
Supreme Court Orders of 3rd-11th, & 14th May on Exxon Valdez (MV Oriental Nicety, MV Oriental N) Case (IMO Watch)
Letter to Supreme Court: Send dead toxic US ship, Exxon Valdez (now named MV Oriental N) away from Indian waters (by Gopal Krishna, IMO Watch)
Movement of US ship Exxon Valdez in Indian waters illegal: ToxicsWatch (Our Bureau, The HinduBusinessline)
E-Waste Illegally Enters India
Alongside other poor countries like China and Ghana, India has become a graveyard for the first world’s electronics. UN convention against shipping E-waste, they are often circumvented through fraudulent shipping manifests, which describe cargo as secondhand electronics being donated to poor countries. In reality, these ships usually contain ancient monitors, computer towers and cell phones that are even obsolete by Third World standards. They are then routed to huge informal E-waste dumps like Seelampur in East Delhi, where they often melted down to retrieve precious metals using very crude methods. This process discharges harmful chemicals like cadmium, dioxin, furan, chlorine, bromine, polyvinyl chloride, which can enter groundwater and lead to birth defects and life-threatening diseases.
Experts: India Dumping Ground For E-waste (Associated Press)
Electronic Waste: Where Does It Go and What Happens To It? (by Michelle Castillo, Time Magazine)
Should India Scrap Shipbreaking?
There are few industries with as nasty a reputation as shipbreaking. Alongside Bangladesh, Gujarat’s Alang Beach has become a premier graveyard for ships. Besides the inherent environmental hazards, there are also significant labor rights violations committed by owners of the shipbreaking yards. The 40,000 people who have populated Alang have created a makeshift village of mostly migrant laborers. In 2004, the Canadian filmmaker Michael Kot made Shipbreakers, a documentary that revealed that many decommissioned ships often contain PCBs and asbestos and many workers later contract cancer.
Pro-Shipbreaking
India’s shipbreaking industry has an active lobby that likes to point out that shipbreaking employs 40,000 in Alang alone and the decommissioned ships are a hugely important source of steel for a growing economy. As The Ship Recycling Industries Association argues on its website, producing steel through recycling ships is twenty times cheaper than through conventional means.
Obama's usepa allows dumping of toxic navy ships (IMO Watch)
Global Shipping LLC and Global Marketing System, Inc. to pay penalties for PCB export violations involving Oceanic (EPA.gov)
Anti-Shipbreaking
Shipbreaking advocates like Gopal Krishna say there are many problems with shipbreaking. Migrants from poor states like Odisha, UP and Bihar comprise a captive labor force making as little as RS. 100 ($2 USD) a day, while being exposed to toxic chemicals like PCBs and asbestos. Krishna also argues that with the renaming and re-flagging of ships, it’s often difficult to figure out the provenance of the vessel landing on your shores. In the case of the Exxon Valdez, the infamous tanker changed names more than five times before stopping in Alang. Black money is also a major problem. Krishna says that because it’s impossible to verify the identities of the ships’ investors, some of these ships could be used as vehicles for money laundering.
Banned in 52 countries, asbestos is India’s next big killer (by Murali Krishnan and Shantanu Guha Ray, Tehelka)
Another ‘toxic’ ship sails towards Alang, raises eyebrows (Express News Service)
Role in the steel economy (Ship Recycling Industries Association)
Should India Build the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project?
The ambitious Sethusamudram project, envisioned by the government of India more than a decade ago, has hit a few snags. The project is being developed to provide direct navigation from India’s West coast to East coast. At present, even though the South India is surrounded by sea, it’s impossible to travel through Indian waters between the West and East coast in large boats because the water is too shallow and a chain of limestone shoals make the Strait impassable in large vessels. The Sethusamudram project would dig out a deep-water route in the Palk strait between India and Sri Lanka. At present, even large Indian Navy ships have to circle Sri Lanka to travel between India’s East and West coasts.
Anti-Sethusamudram
Even though the project has military and economic importance, several organizations say the project will interfere with the mythological Ram Setu Bridge, which is also called Adam’s Bridge. According to Hindu mythology, Lord Rama built this bridge – all that remains are the shoals – to reach to Ravana, who according to the Ramayana reigned over present day Sri Lanka between 2554 BC and 2517 BC. Several petitions were filed in the Supreme Court of India against Sethusamudram project, to which the court directed the Central government to suggest an alternate route.
Opposition to the project isn’t just sentimental. According to one leading environmentalist Tad Murthy of the University of Ottawa, removing shoals will leave much of India’s West Coast even more exposed the next time a catastrophe like the 2004 Asian tsunami strikes.
SSCP – A Monument of Fraud and Infamy (by V. Sundaram, Boloji.com)
Pro-Sethusamudram
The Central government formed a committee, who found the only alternate routes to be both economically and ecologically unviable. The Central government hasn’t made a final decision. Proponents of the project would like to be able to route heavy ship traffic from one side of India to the other without having to travel all the way around Sri Lanka, a country that is now more closely allied with China than India. Indian and Sri Lankan relations around the Palk Strait are still strained, with the Sri Lankan Navy often arresting and sometimes shooting and killing Indian fishermen. Not being able to navigate the strait also has defense implications since China’s string of pearls strategy involves building ports in Burma, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to encircle India.
Indian fishermen are of two schools of thought. Some have expressed the view that deepening the strait would mean access to deep-water fish without having to use as much fuel to travel farther afield and into Sri Lankan waters, where they also risk losing their lives to earn a living. Other fishermen, however, side with environmentalists who say that dredging the bottom and destroying Adam’s Bridge will disrupt a fragile ecosystem and hurt fish stocks.
Alternative route for Sethusamudram project not feasible: Government tells Supreme Court (NDTV)
Simplify Clearance Process to Improve Infrastructure
Most industry experts feel that the shipping industry has been lagging behind other transport sectors such as roads and civil aviation. Majority of the shipping industry projects in the country are facing delays due to license and clearance processes. Further, development of ports and policy formulation in the sector has been rather slow due to which the sector has suffered. Industry experts believe the sector requires bold reforms. As a result, many private ports are being developed to tackle stifling delays at public ones. For industrialists in Tamil Nadu, for example, it’s often faster to drive to Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh rather than face huge traffic delays at the Port of Chennai.
Time to Unleash Port & Shipping Sector Reforms (Shipping Biz 360)
T.R. Baalu (August 2004-May 2009)
A native of Tamil Nadu, T.R. Baalu was born in 1941.
Baalu was the Union Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways between 2004-2009. He is a member of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) Party and represents the highly industrialized Sriperumbudur constituency in the current Lok Sabha.
His political career started at 16. He has been a member of DMK since 1957. In 1986, he was elected as a member of Rajya Sabha. He was elected to Lok Sabha for the first time in 1996. He was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1998, 1999 and 2004 from the Chennai (South) constituency.
Before becoming the Union Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, he served as the Union Minister of Environment and Forests. Baalu graduated with a degree in Science and also has a diploma in engineering.
1n 2009, he was elected again for the current Lok Sabha from Sriperumbudur.
Shatrughan Sinha (February 2003 - August 2004)
Shatrughan Sinha held the office of Cabinet Minister of Shipping for a brief period from February 2003 to August 2004. He held two portfolios during this time, concurrently serving as the Union Cabinet Minister of Health and Family Welfare. He is a film actor-turned-politician who has been elected twice to the Rajya Sabha. He has also been elected in the current Lok Sabha in 2009 from the Patna Sahib Constituency in Bihar.
Comments