Ministry bats for local ships for PSUs

The shipping ministry is keen on promoting ship-building in India and is urging more and more public sector companies to place orders with Indian shipyards.

K Mohandas, secretary, ministry of shipping, speaking on the sidelines of a conference in Mumbai said, “The proposal is that Indian public sector should acquire ships from Indian shipyards. One should look at capacity of the yard to place an order rather than the experience. Normally, the experience of the yard is taken into consideration. That is one of the changes we are looking at.”

He said, “The coastal shipping will be exclusive to Indian vessels and only if they don’t have the required capacity they can use other ships.” He said the ministry was trying to set up the hierarchy of preferences for the Indian vessels which would be given special considerations in coastal shipping.

S Hazra, chairman and managing director, Shipping Corporation of India said the shipping ministry should come out with a shipbuilding policy, which had a clause that gives the first right of refusal to Indian shipyards.

Mohandas, while offering these sops to the ship-building industry, however, said, “In the past, we have had a very bad reputation of delay in delivery of ships and it cannot continue.”

He said if the industry wanted to extend support, then it needed to buckle up and ensure timely delivery of vessels as well as make sure there are no cost escalations. He said, “Cost for building ships cannot be allowed to go up. The Indian ship builders will have to ensure timely delivery. Currently, ships are ordered from global tendering and Indian ship builders will have to be competitive globally.”

The secretary further said ministry was also contemplating cabotage or protection in coastal shipping for the Indian vessels. Cabotage means foreign ships should not be allowed to carry Indian cargo in Indian coastline. This move is to protect the Indian shipping industry and giving them a platform to grow.