Ship Longevity?

[Guest]

Hi All

This article from The Economic Times (India) @
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Ships_over_25_years_old_to_be_barred_from_docking_here/articleshow/2261174.cms makes you wonder about the expected longevity of ships. For instance this 25 year rule would mean that the likes of the QE2 wouldn't be permitted to dock in India!

"Ships over 25 years old to be barred from docking here
7 Aug, 2007, 0416 hrs IST,Nirbhay Kumar & Rajat Guha, TNN
 
NEW DELHI: The government is charting out guidelines to bar entry of aged overseas ships into Indian coasts. Ships aged 25 years and above may soon be disallowed to dock at Indian coasts.

According to a shipping ministry official, 17,000 ships are overage in the world. The policy is being finalised and would be announced soon. Ships with bad track records and Flags Of Convenience (FoC) like Panama (where ships are granted certification without major checks) won’t be allowed.

“The policy is currently being framed by the Directorate of Shipping. The ships have an average age of 17 years. the government has taken a serious view that ships which become vulnerable after 25 months would not be entertained,” a senior government official said.

According to sources in the government, the aim is to narrow down risks attributed to vulnerable ships on Indian coasts. An expert group of officials from state government, the shipping ministry and surveyors would be formed to check the age of fleet.

“The idea is to bring a threshold age for the ships. While we will target 25-year-plus ships in the beginning, later even 20-year-old ships will be targeted as the average age of a ship is 17 years,” the official said.

However, experts point out that the move of the government may have multi-dimensional impact. KPMG associate director Bivek Anand says, “The impact on shipping companies will be in terms of the need for expediting their fleet renewal/tonnage acquisition plans, since a number of existing vessels may not qualify on the age meter, for touching the indian coast.”

Many shipping companies globally (and in India) register their ships in countries where the regulatory framework governing the operations of ships, is more lenient and/or commercially more advantageous.

The ships are said to be registered under FoC. The nations associated with the FoC include Panama, Liberia, Bermuda, Bahamas and many others. Some of these nations are more liberal on the scrapping age of vessels, thus allowing shipping companies to operate older vessels.

“With the lowering of the allowable age of vessels touching an Indian port, the old vessels operating under an FoC will lose the advantage and, thus, shipping companies will get naturally discouraged to register with an FoC. Thus, the FoCs allowing old vessels to ply will also lose out in terms of their attractiveness for registering a vessel, Mr Anand added."

Regards

Steve Ellwood

[Phil English]

Typical policy-making from officials who no absolutely nothing about ships or the shipping industry and think that all FoC or old ships are universally bad.

Phil

[Glenn Towler]

I wonder what sort of effect this will have on their ship breaking industry?

[Guest]

Glenn wrote:
I wonder what sort of effect this will have on their ship breaking industry?

Hi Glenn

Perhaps its a way of generating additiona business for Alang  :-x

Regards

Steve Ellwood

[foggy]

Hi!

I can't help smiling when I read this... We are currently anchored off Visakhapatnam, India, and when I look around I don't see many ships that look to be newer than 15-20 years. If India goes ahead with this (which I think they won't, it's just politics) they won't have much trade. And forbidding FoC flagged ships as well... India already have some of the most stringent cabotage rules (outside USA) in the world and are obviously looking to further these in a non-realistic protectionist move, probably in the hope that all trade to/from India will be with Indian flagged ships. As I look around again I do see quite a few Indian flagged ships here, but the majority seems (as everywhere else in the world) to be FoC flagged. In conlusion, this seems to be a rather naive suggestion by some protectionist politician, who has taken hint from what's going on in the EU... :-x

Also it wouldn't suprise me if this is intended to, in some  slightly misdirected way, boost the Indian shipbuilding industry.

BRGDS / foggy

[Guest]

This is getting like an episode of Monty Python - spam, spam, spam. If you have a site to promote then stick it in the links. Thanks, 'Ship Images'

[bobrayner]

Hooray for badly-thought-out protectionism!

This would be more damaging than the Jones act.

[Guest]

foggy wrote:
I can't help smiling when I read this... We are currently anchored off Visakhapatnam, India, and when I look around I don't see many ships that look to be newer than 15-20 years. If India goes ahead with this (which I think they won't, it's just politics) they won't have much trade. And forbidding FoC flagged ships as well... India already have some of the most stringent cabotage rules (outside USA) in the world and are obviously looking to further these in a non-realistic protectionist move, probably in the hope that all trade to/from India will be with Indian flagged ships. As I look around again I do see quite a few Indian flagged ships here, but the majority seems (as everywhere else in the world) to be FoC flagged. In conlusion, this seems to be a rather naive suggestion by some protectionist politician, who has taken hint from what's going on in the EU... :-x

Also it wouldn't suprise me if this is intended to, in some  slightly misdirected way, boost the Indian shipbuilding industry.

BRGDS / foggy  

Hi Foggy

Thought you might be interested in this piece from The Economic Times @
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Shipping__Transport/Shipping_ministry_plans_to_allow_foreign_crew_on_Indian_ships/articleshow/2282169.cms

Shipping ministry plans to allow foreign crew on Indian ships

Shipping ministry plans to allow foreign crew on Indian ships

15 Aug, 2007, 0301 hrs IST,Nirbhay Kumar & Rajat Guha, TNN
 
NEW DELHI: The shipping ministry is considering a proposal to allow foreign crew on Indian ships. “The shipping ministry has written to home, external affairs and the defence ministries for their approval. The external affairs ministry has already given its go-ahead for allowing foreign seafarers on a case-to-case basis. Replies from the home and the defence ministries are awaited,” an official in the shipping ministry said.

For long, industry has been demanding that foreign seafarers be allowed on Indian ships. According to industry estimates, there is a shortfall of about 1,500 sea-farers in the officer grade in the country.

“With the Indian shipping companies expected to expand their fleet significantly with an investment of over $4 billion in the next three to four years, the manpower requirement is expected to go up significantly,” KPMG associate director Bivek Anand said. Apart from addition of new ships, many domestic vessels are scheduled to be replaced in the next few years.

In India, the average age of a vessel is over 15 years as compared to 12 years internationally. The country’s largest shipping company, Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), has a shortfall of about 500 seafarers.

With a fleet size of 84 ships, SCI commands a 32.8% share in the country’s 8.4 million gross registered tonnage (GRT). The company will add 41 lakh dead weight tonnage (DWT) in the next four to five years at an investment of Rs 13,135 crore.

“At the end of the current Five Year Plan, we will add 14 to 15 vessels to our fleet. To meet the workforce requirement, we are planning to train people from other maritime training institutes and employ them with us,” SCI head (personnel and administration) Kailash Gupta said.

India ranks 14th in the world by flag or registry, forming about 1.53% of the total DWT. India’s contribution to the world’s total seafarer count is just 6%.
 
 
Regards

Steve Ellwood