The Hindu Business Line : DG Shipping, industry to develop code for coastal movement

Reasons for code
Will address safety, pollution and operations of ships in coastal shipping
Will allow upgrade of vessels, encourage new ships for trade in inland waters
Necessary to review, modify some provisions of Merchant Shipping Act

T.E. Raja Simhan

Chennai, June 24 A new Indian Coastal Ship Safety Code is being jointly developed by Directorate General of Shipping (DG Shipping) and the shipping industry. The code is meant to boost cargo movement by coastal shipping, which constitutes less than 10 per cent of total domestic cargo movement.

It will address various elements of safety, pollution and operations of ships that operate in coastal shipping, and encourage new ships for use in coastal trade. It will allow upgrade of vessels presently trading in inland waters and registered under the Inland Vessels Act (1917), according to a circular issued by DG Shipping.

To begin with, a comprehensive exemption order is proposed to be issued for a certain class of ships to be used exclusively in the coastal trade. The vessels will have to comply with the code to get the exemption from some of the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act.

The code is voluntary and those ships that fully comply with it in its entirety are proposed to be exempted from all other Merchant Shipping Act Rules/International Maritime Organisation Conventions, according to a circular issued by DG Shipping.

To develop the code, the DG Shipping in January appointed a Coastal Vessels Committee with senior officers of the Directorate and with representatives as members from Indian Registrar of Shipping, Indian National Ship Owners Association, Indian Barge Owners Association and Goa Barge Owners Association.

Under the chairmanship of the Chief Surveyor with the Government of India, a draft code is now being circulated for comments from the trade.

India has a coastline of 7,500 km, covered by 12 major and 185 minor ports. “However, the coastal shipping in India has not been very conspicuous,” says DG Shipping. It accounts for less than 10 per cent of the domestic cargo movement, and the rest is shared by road and rail.

To facilitate the growth of coastal trade between ports in India, it is considered necessary and expedient to review and modify some of the stringent provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act as applicable to vessels plying in international waters. This is for granting exemptions to those vessels intending to trade within ports in India and within coastal/territorial waters.

It is felt that some of the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act pertaining to construction, equipment, operation, certification and safety that are applicable to vessels plying in international waters need not be mandatorily made applicable to vessels engaged in coastal shipping.