The Hindu Business Line : Grading maritime institutes

IF THE indications are anything to go by, the government decision to grade maritime training institutes by rating agencies is expected to go a long way in improving the quality of education in this field.

The three rating agencies approved by the Director-General of Shipping — Crisil, CARE and ICRA — have started grading maritime training institutes located in various parts of the country.

"This is a new experience for us, but we have been able to build a good team to do the job, said Mr D. R. Dogra, Executive Director, CARE, which has just announced its first grading of the one-year course conducted by the Marine Engineering Training Institute (METI) of Cochin Shipyard. CARE has assigned the highest `Grade-1' rating to the course, indicating the institute's ability to meet the requirements of the course.

Currently there are about 130 maritime training institutes, majority of them in the private sector. Though these institutes need the approval of the DG Shipping to start the courses, many of them fail to keep up the quality of training.

Inspections by the Academic council of DG Shipping revealed wide variations in the quality of education imparted by different institutions. This prompted DG Shipping to go in for grading of these institutes.

The grading is expected to help students select the best institutes. And for the institutes, the grading (and the healthy competition created by it) acts as a trigger to improve quality. This also enables employers to select institutes for sponsoring candidates or shortlist them for campus recruitments.

"The primary focus of the grading exercise would be to assess whether the course conducted by a particular institute meets the objectives of the course as specified in the STWC Convention or the DG Shipping guidelines," says Mr Dogra.

In assigning grading to the METI course, CARE considered several factors, including the teaching methodology, quality of faculty, financial position of the institute, feedback from shipping companies and the institute's capability to outsource facilities which are not available with it, he said.

There is a huge potential for manpower exports in this sector. Indian marine officers are always on demand for employment on foreign ships. As a result, Indian shipping firms face shortage of trained manpower. The answer to this is not only to train more, but impart good quality training, says Mr Dogra.

The DG Shipping, had earlier this year took a delegation to Norway and other European countries to market Indian seafarers. While India has a surplus of seamen, there is a perennial shortage of experienced marine engineers.

Sometime back, a section of the domestic shipping lines had sought the government permission to recruit foreign seafarers to tide over the shortage. The Indian maritime administration is yet to take a decision, as the bureaucracy is worried over the reactions of labour unions.

Currently there is a shortage of over 500 officers, which may go up as Indian tonnage is expected to touch eight million grt, soon with the introduction of the Tonnage Tax, said Mr S. S. Kulkarni, Secretary-General, Indian National Shipowners Association.

Under the existing laws, foreign seafarers are not allowed to work in Indian ships. This is because the Continues Discharge Certificate (CDC) — the document essential for seafarers to take up the on-board job — is issued only to Indian nationals. Therefore, the Indian CDC rules have to be amended to allow recruitment of foreign nationals.

Indian shipping lines have been facing an exodus of officers. Though Indian pay scale is comparable, income-tax is a major factor forcing offices to take up foreign jobs.

Many companies are finding it difficult to comply with the manning requirements. Since Port State Control authorities in foreign countries are strict about manning requirements, Indian lines are under pressure to somehow retain their men on board.

On the DG Shipping effort to improve the quality of training, the maritime administration should also check the menace of fake CDCs.

Recently, the US Government agencies are understood to have raised concern over the instance of holding fake CDC by Indian seafarers.

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