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DAILY NEWS ANALYSIS

  • 20 July, 2021

  • 18 Min Read

Shipping sector UPSC

Shipping sector UPSC

  • Ministry of Shipping was formed in 2009. India has a coastline of 7517 km, spread on the western and eastern shelves of the mainland and also along the Islands. There are 12 major ports and 200 non-major ports.
  • 12 Major Ports (PT Pointers)

    1. Kolkata Port is the only major riverine major port in India.
    2. Paradip Port is the 1st major port in East India after independence.
    3. Chennai Port is an artificial harbour. Vishakhapatnam port is a Natural harbour.

Sagarmala

  • The major economies of the world have always realised the potential of shipping as a contributor to economic growth.
  • Today, for instance, control of the seas is a key component of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). China is trying to take control of the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean Region.
  • However, geographically, China is not as blessed as India. It has a great variety of climates and it has a coast only in the east; yet, seven of the top 10 container ports in the world are in China, according to the World Shipping Council. What aided China’s growth are strong merchant marine and infrastructure to carry and handle merchandise all over the world.
  • Prior to the 16th century, both India and China were equal competitors on GDP. Historical records prove that India had maritime supremacy in the world. But over the past 70 years, India has lost its global eminence in shipping due to poor legislation and politics.

Helping foreign shipping liners

  • Starting from the establishment of new ports in independent India to the establishment of the present-day Chabahar Port in Iran, all of India’s actions on the shipping front have been counter-effective.
  • This is due to a visionless administration. All the shipping infrastructure in peninsular India only helps foreign shipping liners. India has concentrated only on short-term solutions.
  • In the past, colonial traders had a strong merchant marine, but they also developed optimum shore-based infrastructure with road and rail connectivity to facilitate their trade.
  • There was balanced infrastructure onshore and at sea. Shore-based infrastructure was developed to cater to the carrying capacity. This needs to be understood with a clear economic sense.
  • Foreign ship owners carry our inbound and outbound cargo. This is the case in container shipping too. As a country, we have still not optimised our carrying capacity.
  • Foreign carriers and their agents continue to ransack EXIM trade with enormous hidden charges in the logistics cycle. Much of foreign currency is drained as transhipment and handling cost every day.
  • Given this state of affairs, members of our maritime business community have also preferred to be agents for foreign ship owners or container liners rather than becoming ship owners or container liners themselves.
  • This is a historical mistake and a major economic failure of the country. As a result, there is a wide gap between carrying capacity and multi-folded cargo growth in the country.
  • Today, Ministry officials are happily relaxing “Cabotage” regulation in the name of coastal shipping. This benefits only the foreign container-carrying companies and not Indian shipowners.

Why Cabotage?

  • Cabotage is a sovereign right of the country.
  • Cabotage restrictions are applicable in most countries to protect the domestic shipping industry from foreign competition as well as for the purpose of national security. China and USA are known to impose absolute cabotage restrictions.
  • However, the contrary view is that if coastal ships are less in number, cabotage restrictions do not do any good for the nation. For instance, the growth of the coastal fleets in India is not viewed as impressive. When there are not enough domestic coastal vessels, imposing cabotage, discourages coastal transport due to procedural lags.

  • Official actions allow foreign carriers to enjoy the situation here and push the Indian tonnage owners to vanish from the scene. Starting from the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company of V.O. Chidambaram Pillai to the Scindia Steam Navigation Company of our times, Indian owners have not got the blessings of successive governments.
  • In the port sector, instead of creating regional cargo-specific ports in peninsular India, the bureaucracy has repeatedly allowed similar infrastructural developments in multiple cargo-handling ports.
  • As a result, Indian ports compete for the same cargo. If we make our major ports cargo-specific, develop infrastructure on a par with global standards, and connect them with the hinterlands as well as international sea routes, they will automatically become transhipment hubs.
  • We need to only concentrate on developing the contributing ports to serve the regional transhipment hubs for which improving small ship coastal operations is mandatory.
  • It is our long-cherished dream to be competent and cost-effective in international supply chain logistics. We need quality products to be available in global markets at a competitive price. This will happen only if we develop balanced infrastructure onshore as well as at sea.

A ray of hope

  • Sagarmala, a government programme to enhance the performance of the country’s logistics sector, provides hope.
  • Its aims are port-led industrialisation, development of world-class logistics institutions, and coastal community development.
  • When Sagarmala initiates infrastructural development on the shorefront, this will also get reflected in domestic carrying capacity.

Sagarmala Programme, 2015

  1. It was developed to evolve a model of port led development which will transform India's coastline as gateways of India's prosperity.
  2. The concept was announced in 2003 and then reintroduced in 2014. Ministry of Shipping is the nodal point.
  3. It aims at integrating 3 things: The development of Ports; Industrial clusters and Hinterland and Efficient evacuation systems through road, rail, inland and coastal waterways.
  4. Features
    1. Modernisation of port infrastructure- transforming the existing ports into world-class ports and developing of new ports.
    2. Efficient evacuation system by improving hinterland linkages through rail, road and water; and
    3. Encouraging coastal economic development by promoting port-based SEZs and ancillary industries.
  5. 2 Broad strategies:
    1. Development of 10 coastal economic regions: A coastal economic region will be identified as a region along the state’s coast (300-500 km) and 10-30 km inland and into the sea.
    2. Coastal shipping: by the provision of the green channel, incentives for use and simplification of procedures. Inland Waterways and Coastal shipping are the main carriers of people and goods and improve sea-borne traffic. India has only 950 MT of seaborne traffic with a 7500 km coastline while China has 9 billion with a 15000 km coastline.
  6. Structure
    1. A National Sagarmala Apex Committee (NSAC) is envisaged for overall policy guidance and high-level coordination, and to review planning and implementation under the chairmanship of the Minister of Shipping.
    2. Sagarmala Coordination and Steering Committee (SCSC) will be constituted under the chairmanship of the Cabinet Secretary and with Secretaries of the respective stakeholder Ministries as members to provide coordination between various ministries, state governments and connected agencies. This Committee will also examine financing options available for the funding of projects.
    3. At the Central level, Sagarmala Development Company (SDC) will be set up under the Companies Act, 2013 to assist the State level SPVs. SPV will identify port-led development projects. SDC will also work as the nodal agency for the coordination and monitoring of identified projects. It will also prepare detailed master plans for Coastal Economic Zones (CEZs). Initial authorised State capital of Rs. 1000 crore.

  • As of now, shipbuilding, repair and ownership are not preferred businesses in peninsular India.
  • The small ship-owning community in India also prefers foreign registry for their ships instead of domestic registration.
  • If this has to change, there needs to be a change in the mindset of the authorities and the maritime business community.
  • With the call for ‘Make in India’ growing louder and with simultaneous multi-folded cargo growth in the country, we need ships to cater to domestic and international trade.
  • Short sea and river voyages should be encouraged. The ship-owning spirit of the Indian merchant marine entrepreneur has to be restored. Shipbuilding and owning should be encouraged by the Ministry.
  • The National Shipping Board is an independent advisory body for the Ministry of Shipping, where the Directorate General of Shipping (DGS) is a member.
  • The NSB should be able to question the functioning of the DGS, which is responsible for promoting carrying capacity in the country.
  • Sagarmala should include coastal communities and consider evolving schemes to harness the century-old ship-owning spirit and sailing skills of peninsular India.
  • Coastal communities should be made ship owners. This will initiate carriage of cargo by shallow drafted small ships through coast and inland waterways.
  • All minor ports in peninsular India will emerge as contributing ports to the existing major ports and become transhipment hubs on their own. Old sailing vessel owners should be encouraged to become small ship owners.
  • It is sad that most of the global shipping companies which depend on Indian cargo for their business have Indians as either commercial heads or Indian crew onboard their ships. The creamy layer from management and nautical institutions are employed out of India. When the most creative human resource is not used in the country, what is the point of declaring that India has the number one youth population in the world?

A youth population is merely a number, not a skill-based strength. In the coastal region, their strength has not been tapped. This is a point of concern and Sagarmala should concentrate on consolidating the strength of the coastal youth and make them contribute to the nation’s economy with pride.

Source: PIB


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