Ministry of Shipping

About Ministry

• The Ministry of Shipping, a branch of the Government of India, is the apex body for formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws relating to shipping.
• Maritime Transport is a critical infrastructure for the social and economic development of a country. It influences the pace, structure and pattern of development. The Ministry of Shipping encompasses within its fold shipping and ports sectors which include shipbuilding and ship-repair, major ports, national waterways, and inland water transport. Ministry of Shipping has been entrusted with the responsibility to formulate policies and programmes on these subjects  and their implementation.

 

SAGARMALA

• The Sagarmala Project is the flagship programme, launched in 2015, to promote port-led development through harnessing India’s 7,500 km long coastline, 14,500 km of potentially navigable waterways and strategic location on key international maritime trade routes.

Objectives

• • To promote port-led development in the country through harnessing India’s 7,500 km long coastline, 14500 km of potentially navigable waterways and strategic location on key international maritime trade routes.
  • It aims at –
    1. Reducing cost of transporting domestic cargo through optimizing modal mix
    2. Lowering logistics cost of bulk commodities by locating future industrial capacities near the coast
    3. Improving export competitiveness by developing port proximate discrete manufacturing clusters
    4. Optimizing time/cost of EXIM container movement

Components

• • Components of Sagarmala Programme are –
    1. Port Modernization & New Port Development – De-bottlenecking and capacity expansion of existing ports and development of new greenfield ports
    2. Port Connectivity Enhancement – Enhancing the connectivity of the ports to the hinterland, optimizing cost and time of cargo movement through multi-modal logistics solutions including domestic waterways (inland water transport and coastal shipping)
    3. Port-linked Industrialization – Developing port-proximate industrial clusters and Coastal Economic Zones to reduce logistics cost and time of EXIM and domestic cargo
    4. Coastal Community Development – Promoting sustainable development of coastal communities through skill development & livelihood generation.

Institutional Set up

• • National Sagarmala Apex Committee (NSAC) – For overall policy guidance, high level coordination, & approve National Perspective Plan (NPP) – chaired by the Minister in charge of Shipping.
  • Sagarmala Coordination & Steering Committee – To Review progress of implementation of NPP and projects and provide coordination between various ministries, state governments and agencies
  • State Sagarmala Committee – To take up matters on priority as decided in the NSAC and Coordinating & facilitating Sagarmala related projects, headed by CM/minister in charge of ports
  • Sagarmala Development Company Ltd. (SDCL) was incorporated under the Companies Act, 2013, in 2016, to assist in implementation of Sagarmala projects by providing funding support to SPVs, preparation of Detailed Project Reports (DPRs), feasibility studies, etc.
  • ‘Community Development Fund’ for population living in the Coastal Economic Zone (CEZ)
  • The Indian Port Rail Corporation Limited (IPRCL) – Incorporated to execute the last mile port-rail connectivity and internal rail projects of the Major Ports more effectively.

Salient Features

• • Projects considered for funding under Sagarmala Programme will either be provided equity support (SPV route) from Sagarmala Development Company Limited (set up under the Companies Act, 2013 to assist the State level/zone level Special Purpose Vehicles) or funded (other than equity support) from the budget of Ministry of Shipping.
  • In order to execute the last mile connectivity rail connectivity and internal rail projects of the Major Ports more effectively and efficiently a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) – The Indian Port Rail Corporation (IPRC) is incorporated under the Companies Act 2013, under the administrative control of the Ministry of Shipping.
  • National Sagarmala Apex Committee chaired by Minister of Shipping will provide overall policy guidance and approve National Perspective plan.
  • A National Perspective Plan has been crafted after detailed consultations with key stakeholders in the central and state governments, public sector companies as well as private players from shipping, ports, etc.
  • Center of Excellence in Maritime and Ship Building (CEMS): it is being set up by Ministry of Shipping in collaboration with Siemens and Indian Register of Shipping (IRS) under Sagarmala Programme.
  • CEMS will have campuses at Vishakhapatnam and Mumbai, and will provide industry-relevant skill development, equip students with employable engineering and technical skills in the port and maritime.
  • Coastal Berth Scheme under Sagarmala: It aims to provide financial support to ports or state governments for creation of infrastructure for movement of cargo and passenger by sea or national waterways.

 

Project Sethusamudram

• • • Another closely linked Programme is Project Sethusamudram – To link Palk Bay with Gulf of Mannar and facilitate maritime trade through it.
    • It is a proposed project to create a shipping route in the shallow straits between India and Sri Lanka across the Palk Bay cutting across Rama Setu.
    • The project involves digging a 44.9-nautical-mile long deep-water channel linking the shallow Palk Strait with the Gulf of Mannar.
    • The channel would be dredged in the Sethusamudram Sea passing through the limestone shoals of Ram Sethu.

Coastal Economic Zones (CEZs)

• • • Coastal Economic Zones (CEZs) have been renamed as Coastal Employment Zones, keeping in view their job ­generating potential.
    • The port led industrialization component of Sagarmala will be delivered through Coastal Economic Zones (14 CEZ identified so far)
    • Each CEZ will cover economic region consisting of several coastal districts with strong linkage to the ports in that region.
    • Each CEZs will also create synergy with industrial corridors passing through the region
    • Every CEZ will have several Coastal Employment Units (CEU), and in turn each CEU will have several Port ­Linked Industrial Clusters (PLIC). Each PLIC within CEU will have several manufacturing units.

Centre of Excellence in Maritime and Ship Building (CEMS)

• • • Set up under Sagarmala Programme
    • Campuses at Vishakhapatnam and Mumbai

Objective

• • • • To provide industry-relevant skill development
      • To meet domestic skill requirement in ship design, manufacturing, operating and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO)

 

JAL MARG VIKAS PROJECT

• The Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) is a National Waterways development project on river Ganga, between Haldia-Varanasi (phase 1) stretch of National Waterway-1 (NW-1).

Objectives

• • For the capacity augmentation of navigation on the Haldia-Varanasi stretch of National Waterway-1 (Ganga)

Need for the project

• • One of the major problems for a commercially viable and safe navigation on NW-1 is low depth upstream of Farakka due to low discharges from tributaries and difficult hydro morphological characteristics of river Ganga.
  • The JMVP will overcome such navigational challenges by ensuring an appropriate depth and width to enable commercial navigation.

Expected Completion of the project – March 2023

Project implementing agency

• • Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), under Ministry of Shipping.
  • This project will be implemented with the technical assistance and investment support of the World Bank

Salient Features

• • The project envisages development of waterway (for commercial navigation) between Allahabad & Haldia on Ganga River that will cover a distance of 1620 km.
  • The project covers Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
  • 4 Multi-Modal Terminals are planned on NW1 – Varanasi, Sahibganj, Haldia and Gazipur.
  • The project adopted the first time in India a River Information System, IT based system to optimize the resource management of waterborne transport.
  • Recently, India’s first Inland Multi-Modal Terminal Port on river Ganga was inaugurated.
  • The project includes-
    1. Development of fairways, Multi-modal terminals at Varanasi, Haldia and Sahibganj. Strengthening the river navigation system, conservancy works
    2. Modern River Information System (RIS), Digital Global Positioning System (DGPS), night navigation facilities.

 

PROJECT UNNATI

• Launched by the Ministry of shipping in 2014
• It is considered to be the most important port transformation project.

Objectives

• • Benchmark operational and financial performance of the 12 major ports with selected Indian private ports and best-in-class international ports for identifying improvement areas.
  • Undertake capability maturity assessment for key processes and functional capabilities (e.g., IT, HR, Environment, and Health) and identify gaps and areas for further strengthening.
  • Detailed deep-dive diagnosis and root cause analysis for the identified opportunity areas in each of the 12 major ports to understand underlying reasons for performance bottlenecks.
  • Develop practical and actionable solutions on the basis of root cause findings, and develop a comprehensive improvement roadmap for each of the 12 major ports.

 

OTHER INITIATIVES

Port Community System – ‘PCS lX’

• ‘PCS lX’ is a cloud based new generation technology that seamlessly integrates all stakeholders from the maritime trade on a single platform.
• The platform offers value added services such as
  • 1. notification engine,
    2. workflow,
    3. mobile application,
    4. track and trace,
    5. better user interface,
    6. better security features,
    7. Improved inclusion by offering dashboard for those with no IT capability.
    8. Includes state of the art payment aggregator solution, thus, removing dependency on bank specific payment ecosystem.
    9. Offers a database that acts as a single data point to all transactions.

Solarization of Ports

• The Ministry of Shipping (MoS) has undertaken an initiative to implement utility-scale Solar Photovoltaic Power Plant projects at various major ports across the country.
• The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has been appointed as the overall project management consultant for these projects. An MoU has been signed in this regard between SECI and the Indian Ports Association (IPA), on behalf of the individual port trusts, to implement the solar energy projects.
• As part of this activity, installation of grid connected solar power plants in the following ports is underway. In addition, installation of rooftop solar power projects at various ports is also undertaken and the related processes has been started.

1. 1. 1. Visakhapatnam Port Trust, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh
      2. Paradip Port Trust, Paradip, Odisha
      3. Kolkata Port Trust, Kolkata and Haldia, West Bengal
      4. Kamarajar Port Trust, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
      5. V. O. Chidambaranar Port Trust, Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu
      6. New Mangalore Port Trust, Mangaluru, Karnataka
      7. Deendayal Port Trust, Gandhidham, Gujarat

 

 

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