Maritime Agenda 2020

India is growing with great speed and would be leading economies globally soon. According to Goldman Sachs economists, India would be one of the BRIC economies (Brazil, Russia, India and China) that could become a much larger force globally in coming future. Maritime industry is a backbone of the country's EXIM trade. Therefore, it would not be wrong if said that development of shipping and ports industries contribute to the growth of the nation.

In order to match with speed of the economy, shipping industry is also on the high way. There are multiple proposals to bring the industry to the international standards.

VISION: Maritime Agenda 2020

The Maritime Agenda, a vision document, proposed by Ministry of Shipping envisages a four-fold growth in coming ten years. Besides, it also suggests vision of being recognized globally as a highly effective, efficient, responsible and progressive maritime administration. It aims at comprehensive growth of the  industry  including  developments  of  ports,  berths,  increasing  capacity  of the  ports, modernization  of  infrastructure  facilities,  port connectivity, etc.

Some of the projects have already started.

The goals set for the sector includes:

• To create a port capacity of around 3200 MT to handle the expected traffic of about 2500 MT by 2020.
• To bring the ports at par with the best international ports in terms of performance and capacity.
• To increase the tonnage under the Indian flag and Indian control and also the share of Indian ships in our EXIM trade.
• To promote coastal shipping as it will help in decongesting our roads and is environment friendly.
• To increase India’s share in global ship building to 5% from the present 1%.
• The share of Indian seafarers is between 6 to 7% in the global shipping industry and to increase it to 9% by 2015.

The agenda for the decade for the Ports are:

• Create Port capacity of 3200 M.T. for handling about 2500 M.T. of cargo.
• Improve Port performance on par with the best in the world.
• Increase tonnage both under the Indian flag as well as Indian control.
• Increase Coastal Shipping and facilitate hassle-free multimodal transport.
• Increase India’s share in global ship building to 5%.
• Promote use of the inland waterways for cargo movement.
• Increase India’s share of seafarer to 9% of the global strength by 2015.
• Implementation of the Port development projects.
• Develop Two New Major Ports one each on east and west coasts.
• Full mechanisation of cargo handling and movement.
• Major Ports to have draft of not less than 14 metres and hub ports 17 metres.
• A new policy on dredging.
• Identification and implementation of projects for rail, road and inland waterway connectivity to ports.
• Development of two hub ports on each of the West and the East coasts – Mumbai (JNPT), Kochi, Chennai and Visakhapatnam.
• Port Policy Measures.
• Corporatisation of Major Ports
• New Land Policy for Major Ports
• New Policy on captive berths
•Establishing a Port Regulator for all ports for setting, monitoring and regulating service levels and technical & performance standards
• New Policy on dredging
• Shifting of transhipment of Indian containers from foreign ports to Indian ports
• Policy on co-operation and competition amongst Indian Ports
• Establishing ‘Indian Ports Global’ for overseas investments by Indian Ports

The agenda for the decade for Shipping are:

• Increase in Indian tonnage through necessary policy interventions
• Declaration of Coastal Shipping Policy
• Establishment of a ‘Freight Exchange’
• Creation of Ombudsman/ Tribunals for Shipping matters
• Formation of an independent Marine Casualty Investigation Cell
• Establishing a P & I Club in India
• SCI to have ambitious vessel acquisition plans to lead the growth in Indian tonnage
• Introduction of passenger ferry services between India and nearby countries
• Ro-Ro Ferry service in Gulf of Kutch, Gulf of Cambay and other suitable places
• Strengthening of capacity for Port State Control and Flag State Inspections
• Promotion of multi-modal transport operations for door to door delivery
• Promotion of a Salvage Company in India, with Viability Gap Funding if required
• Introduction of new Shipbuilding Subsidy Scheme
• Grant of Infrastructure Status to shipbuilding industry
• Purchase preference for Indian shipyards in procurement of ships by Government through global tenders
• Expansion of Cochin Shipyard.

For Inland Waterways the agenda envisages:

• Development of IWT infrastructure
• Declaration of River Barak as National Waterway no.6
• Development of National Waterways 4 & 5
• Extension of National Waterway No. 3 in Kerala

The agenda also envisages:

• Enactment of a new Indian Ports Act replacing Indian Ports Act 1908 and the Major Port Trusts Act 1963
• Enactment of Admiralty Act
• Enactment of Shipping Trade Practices Act
• Review of the law on the Multimodal Transportation of Goods
• Revision of the law on Lighthouses and Lightships
• Amendment of Merchant Shipping Act
• Control of piracy through concerted international action
• Bilateral maritime agreements with selected countries/regions for mutual benefit
• A framework for cooperation between Indian ports and those in other countries
• Collaboration of IMU with top global academic institutions in the maritime sector
• Renewal and strengthening of Indo-Bangladesh Protocol on Inland Water Transport