The Hindu Business Line : Shipping lines must be allowed to hire foreign crew

One of the major issues Ms Kiran Dhingra has been trying to tackle ever since she took over as the Director-General of Shipping more than a year ago is the shortage of men to steer the country’s Merchant Navy fleet.

The first lady officer to occupy a key post in the Indian maritime administration, Ms Dhingra appears to have earned the reputation as one who is prepared to understand the problems facing the shipping industry.

Despite her earnestness, the shortage of marine officers has only taken a turn for the worse, if the recent developments are anything to go by.

The death of a junior marine engineer employed on a Shipping Corporation of India ship recently, has brought the gravity of the situation back into focus.

Denial of leave

While the SCI insists that it was an accidental death, a colleague of the deceased has registered a police complaint alleging that the officer had committed suicide, as he could not get leave. It was reported that the young officer was working on board continuously for 11 months. He was denied leave, as the company could not find a reliever, it was alleged.

More recently, there was another instance of suspected suicide by a seaman on a Great Eastern Shipping Company’s ship. The reason and circumstances were probably different in this case.

There are also instances of merchant navy officers being denied leave for marriage and even for attending death ceremonies.

Whatever the case may be, it cannot be denied that there is an acute shortage of marine officers in the country, leading to what industry observers call instance of violation of safety norms and service conditions of seafarers.

The response of the marine administration has been found wanting. Immediately after the incident on the SCI ship, the Shipping Minister himself had sought a report on the service conditions of seafarers on Indian ships.

The Minister had agreed to take some immediate measures, particularly to ease the shortage of marine officers. One of them — the most important — was the decision to allow domestic shipping lines to hire foreign marine officers.

As per the existing regulations, Indian flag-carriers are not allowed to employ foreign nationals on board. Domestic lines have been asking for a relaxation of this rule to tide over the manpower crisis.

Hiring foreign crew

Even after six months, shipping companies are awaiting the government order for hiring foreign crew. Ms Dhingra had issued a draft circular allowing recruitment of officers from select countries, but no decision has been taken in this regard.

When the issue came up in the meeting of the National Shipping Board in Kolkata last week, she had apparently pulled up the SCI for not fully utilising its training facilities. No progress was made in the draft circular either.

When airlines in India faced shortage of pilots, they were allowed to hire foreign pilots, who were even allowed to fly domestic flights. But when it comes to hiring foreign masters for Indian ships, there comes the bogey of security threat, says a leading Indian shipowner.

The Indian National Shipowners Association (INSA), whose members account for nearly 90 per cent of the Indian fleet, has reported shortage of 834 officers, as on March 31,2007. This includes 64 masters, and 232 second and third engineers.

Considering the planned acquisitions of new vessels, the shortage could exceed 1,000 by the end of the current fiscal. “The situation may deteriorate further even with a modest growth of 10 per cent in the number of feet by next year,” said a senior shipping company official.

“There is hardly any difference in the total wage bill of an Indian shipping company and a comparable foreign operator. But a seafarer serving on an Indian ship gets much lower than his counterpart on a foreign ship as he has to pay income-tax, which makes the difference. An Indian seaman working on a foreign ship does not pay any tax,” said an official of INSA, which has been seeking tax exemption for seafarers working on ocean-going Indian ships.

It would be difficult to prevent Indian officers from seeking foreign jobs. Three options are being talked about to find a solution to the problem: Train more people, make jobs on Indian ships more attractive or allow recruitment of foreign crew.

Though training facilities cannot be created overnight, as being pointed out by shipping lines, nothing prevents them from fully utilising the facility available on-board.

Salary disparity

The salary differences will continue to exist as the nature and conditions of employment are different in India. The shipowners’ suggestion of a flat five per cent income-tax on all Indian seamen trained in India, including those employed on foreign ships, sounds sensible, as there is no loss of revenue to the government.

But income-tax authorities may find it discretionary.

So the best solution would be to allow Indian lines to hire from anywhere, provided they are able to prove the lack of Indian hands with similar experience.

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