The Hindu Business Line : Barge owners' body seeks tonnage tax system for inland vessels too

THE Indian Barge Owners Association, the body of barge operators, has urged the Shipping Ministry to bring the vessels currently registered under the Coasting Vessels Act of 1838 and Inland Vessels Act of 1917 also under the ambit of the Merchant Shipping Act 1958.

This is needed to make inland vessels eligible for benefits available under the tonnage tax and also to overcome the problem of multiple registration, according to sources close to the association.

"There should be a single registration system for all types of vessels, ocean-going, coastal and inland water transport vessels," the sources observe.

The association is particularly keen that the benefits now available under the tonnage tax are also made available to the operators of inland vessels. In a communication, it has appealed to the Shipping Secretary to take up with the Finance Ministry the issue of extending the tonnage tax benefit also to vessels registered under the Inland vessels Act of 1917 and Coasting Vessels Act of 1838.

It might be noted that the tonnage tax was introduced in the Finance Bill 2004 to benefit the vessels registered under the Merchant Shipping Act 1958, thus covering the ocean-going ships as well as coastal vessels; subsequently, in the Finance Bill 2005, the same benefits were also extended to dredgers. However, the inland vessels were left out.

"We are upset at the Government's decision not to consider the inland vessels for the purpose of tonnage tax, particularly at a time when there is a need to strengthen the IWT (inland water transport) sector and the Government too proclaims its intention to provide necessary support to it," the sources said.

The IWT vessels, though not covered under the MS Act 1958, are very much part of the country's water-borne trade and traffic. The vessels registered under Coasting Vessels Act 1838 and Inland Vessels Act 1917 operate as per the norms laid down by the Directorate General of Shipping, Mercantile Marine Department of the Union Government and respective maritime boards of various State Governments.

The proposed development of minor ports, envisaged under the National Maritime Development Programme, will be incomplete without providing incentives to IWT, it is felt. In fact, the development of national shipping too depends to some extent on the successful operation of IWT providing important links between the seaports and various inland destinations. Several expert committees too have identified IWT as an integral part of port development programmes, it is pointed out.

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