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News on Shipping
Cargo
ships to soon have black boxes under IMO rules :
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is considering a
new enactment under the International Safety of Life at Sea (ISLS)
convention to make it mandatory for the cargo ships to install
"black boxes" similar to the ones used on aircrafts. IMO has already
conducted a feasibility study on the subject, which has reinforced
the case for its installation on cargo ships. Several shipwrecks
in recent years have led investigators clueless about the cause
of the accidents. The installation of the black box on the ship
would also help maritime authorities study in detail the minutest
of the facts that lead to maritime accidents.
Paramount
Shipping sets up base in Chennai : Paramount
Shipping a Eurasia group company involved in ship management has
opened its Chennai office, to take care of needs of seafarers
from the southern region. With this, seafarers from South need
not now go to Delhi or Mumbai, where the company has offices,
to join the ships managed by the firm. Paramount undertakes manning
and training of Indian seafarers for the Bernhard Shulte Group
of Hamburg. The Schulte Group manages over 400 vessels including
60 of its own, through its various management offices worldwide.
The Eurasia group manages 74 of these vessels including crude,
product and chemical tankers, bulk carriers up to Capesize vessel,
container vessels up to 5,500 TEUs (twenty foot equivalent unit),
cement carriers, LPG and LNG. About 72 per cent, about 1,700,
of the seafarers on board these vessels are Indians.
Workers
unions to oppose port corporatisation bid : The
port and dock labour unions opposed to corporatisation of ports
are holding country-wide demonstrations in front of the administrative
offices of major ports on July 28 in protest. In a press release
Mr G. Jagannadha Rao, President of the Visakhapatnam Port Employees'
Union affiliated to the All-India Port & Dock Workers' Federation,
said that leaders of the five recognized federations of port employees
had met earlier this week in Chennai and decided upon a course
of agitation in protest against Government policies on ports.
The federations wanted withdrawal of a bill pending in Parliament
for corporatisation of ports and sought more autonomy to the port
trusts by effecting amendments to the Major Port Trusts Act as
recommended by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport
and Tourism. Further, the labour unions have sought shelving of
all proposals to privatize services in major ports and filling
up of vacancies and jobs to the next of kin of port employees
who died in harness or while on duty.
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News on Ports
Kolkata
port planning to bring Suez tankers : The
Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) is reportedly planning to bring Suezmax
tankers with an average parcel load of 50,000/55,000 tonnes of
crude at Haldia dock. While the exact date for bringing the vessel
is yet to be firmed up, the KoPT authorities are hopeful of undertaking
the operation at the earliest. The arrangements for bringing in
the large vessels are being discussed with the SCI as well as
IOC. Earlier, the Suezmax tanker `Gandhar' belonging to SCI had
called on at Haldia with a parcel load of a little less than 50,000
tonnes in 1995. The KoPT has asked SCI to have the DGPS (directional
geographical positioning system) installed on the vessels to be
brought at Haldia. DGPS is necessary to synchronize its operation
with that of the shore-based Beacon to monitor precisely the movement
and location of the vessel in the Hooghly river. The successful
calling of a Suezmax tanker with more than 50,000 tonnes of crude
and discharging of the cargo at the dock would pave the way for
the proposed tandem mooring operation at the Sandheads.
CPSEZ
proposal a bonanza for Kochi Kerala:
Industrial and Technical Consultancy Organization Ltd (KITCO)
master plan for development of the Cochin Port Special Economic
Zone (CPSEZ) promises to be big boon for Kochi port. As per the
master plan, SEZ, to be set up on 448 hectares at Vallarpadam
and Puthuvypeen is expected to net Rs 1,200 crore as foreign exchange
earnings and generate 25,000 jobs, besides FDI inflows of Rs 4,450
crore. The internal rate of return of the project, worked out
after considering the opportunity cost at the rate of 8.0 per
cent on the capital employed, is estimated at 11.52 per cent,
considered to be satisfactory at the prevailing interest rates.
The income generating areas for the port include land lease, share
of turnover from container transshipment terminal, licence fee
from bunkering operation, royalty from SBM, royalty from LNG operation,
toll from railway siding, share of turnover from ship repair facility.
Of the three models discussed for developing the SEZ, the sector-wise
model, it is felt, would be ideal. The plan envisages development
of specific sectors such as international container transshipment
terminal (ICTT), bunkering, ship repair, LNG, etc., to be entrusted
to BOT operators. Projects suited to the port area have been identified
for the CPSEZ considering the layout of the land and the potential
with respect to raw materials, demand-supply gap of the products
in the export markets and the availability of skilled manpower.
Multi-point SEZ planned
at Kandla: The
Kandla Special Economic Zone (KASEZ) spread over 700 acres is
planning to join hands with the Kandla Port Trust to develop a
multi-point special economic zone in Gujarat. The plan being jointly
worked out between the KPT and KASEZ is likely to be submitted
to the Centre soon. The move follows the Commerce ministry's recent
approval to the proposal submitted by Cochin Port Trust (CoPT)
and Cochin Special Economic Zone to develop a multi-point SEZ
in Kochi.
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