The soon-to-be-implemented twin laws – the Coastal Shipping Bill and the Merchant Shipping Bill – will increase Indian ship ownership and ease of doing business in the country as well as give a big boost to coastal shipping, the Union Shipping and Transport Minister said. Port Sarbananda Sonowal.
Can you expand your sea vision to 2047?
In the last 10 years, this sector has done exemplary work. According to the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index Report 2023, India’s position has risen from 54th to 38th in the last 10 years due to various initiatives among 139 countries. If we talk about the container dwell time (the time spent by the cargo container at the port or terminal before it is moved out), it is about three days, which is much better than most advanced countries. In turnaround time (the time a ship needs to unload its cargo and depart), ours is 0.9 days, better than Canada, Australia, Germany and the US.
We now have over 176 maritime nations around the world. Among them, we want to be a world leader in various verticals like shipbuilding, ship repair and ship recycling. By 2030, we want to be one of the top 10 nations, and by 2047, we want to be in the top five. So this is the approach that we have developed and whatever follow-up work needs to be done, that has already started. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047 last year, it was decided to invest over Rs 80 lakh crore in our 25-year journey in various verticals like shipbuilding, green ports, green shipping. Modernization of ports etc. For example, the target is to reach 10,000 million metric tons in cargo handling capacity. 2047. Today, we have the capacity to handle 1,600 million metric tons. To become a world leader, we need to develop a world-class ecosystem with global standards in all verticals, be it port management systems, cargo handling, shipbuilding, ship repair, ship recycling, even in all types of cruises – ocean cruises, coastal Cruises, river cruises and inland waterways, coastal shipping and EXIM (export-import) cargo. In all these verticals, India has to demonstrate its credibility, quality and capability.
Is the ministry working on any tourism initiatives, specifically, cruise tourism?
We have already developed six international cruise terminals. These are like airports, as many facilities are available in airports, the same facilities are being developed in these cruise terminals. Several international cruise liners such as Cordelia and Costa Serena call at these terminals. These are the largest cruise liners in the world. Due to modern facilities, quality ships come to India. Not only infrastructure but also various other measures including tax exemptions are being provided to promote cruise tourism.
We have also worked on lighthouse tourism. We have over 200 lighthouses along our coastline. Earlier till 2014, the tourist traffic was only 4.34 lakh, but now it has reached 16.19 lakh, which is an increase of 273 percent in a period of 10 years.
The Union Cabinet had approved the National Maritime Heritage Complex project at Lothal in Gujarat in October. What is the progress and when can it be completed?
When the entire project is completed, it will be the largest maritime museum in the world. It is expected to be completed by 2029. The first phase will be open to the public from September 2025.
International cooperation with more than 20 countries has been proposed for the development of the complex. These collaborations will lead to joint marine research activities, conservation of marine heritage, exchange of information, artifacts, technological know-how among others.
It (NMHC) will be a global center of learning, study and research on marine issues. Here you will discover valuable information related to maritime activities around the world in different civilizations. It is estimated that the project will generate up to 25,000 daily traffic and create 22,000 jobs. Currently, 65 percent of the first phase of the project has been physically progressed.
Can you talk about the recent laws?
Legislative reforms are important for growth and development through rationalization and simplification of laws and adoption of global best practices.
The revised Major Ports Authority Act, National Waterways Act, Inland Waterways Act, and Ship Recycling Act have already accelerated growth and unlocked the hitherto untapped potential of port, waterway, and ship recycling sectors.
Two new laws, the Coastal Shipping Bill and the Merchant Shipping Bill, are coming into force soon. It will provide a major boost to coastal shipping, integrating coastal and inland waterways, increasing Indian ship ownership, promoting coastal security, combating marine pollution, regulating quality maritime training, promoting and promoting shipbuilding and ship recycling. Business in India.
Indians form a significant part of the global maritime workforce but the share of Indian-flagged ships globally is small. What initiatives are being taken in this direction?
So now we are building clusters for shipbuilding. Several coastal states like Gujarat, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh have come forward. They are offering land to form clusters in collaboration with our ministry and private players. Recently we sent our ministerial delegation to South Korea. They are willing to invest in shipbuilding in India and Japanese companies are also moving ahead on that basis. There are many reputed companies, who are willing to set up their infrastructure in India for shipbuilding. So we have a clear target to be one of the top 10 shipbuilding nations in the world by 2030 and one of the top five by 2047.
Many states have expressed interest in participating in this effort. There are many more in the queue, as it is a very interesting sector, shipbuilding, and highly employment-intensive, creating thousands of jobs for our youth. India, earlier, never thought in this particular direction… Due to our ancient maritime heritage we have the ability and ingenuity. Many of our quality human resources are going abroad. Wherever Indians have migrated to America, Europe and other parts of the world, they are faring much better than the local people. But now those quality human resources, if they are within India and gainfully employed and if we can create this kind of ecosystem with advanced marine manufacturing in India, we can definitely become a world leader.
What is the rationale behind the recently launched Cargo Promotion Scheme?
If you have to move your cargo on roads and our railways, it means you are creating more pollution and more congestion on these networks. It’s not even cost-effective, in fact, it’s expensive. If we shift cargo transportation to waterways, it becomes cost-effective. When you travel by rail, it is 30% more expensive than by water, and when you travel by road, it is more than 60% more expensive than by water. Thus waterways are the most cost-effective and eco-friendly mode of providing seamless connectivity. There is no crowd. That’s why we launched this cargo promotion scheme. We are giving a 35% incentive to cargo transported through our waterways. We want to generate interest in the waterway among various operators and stakeholders.