past events

Climate change , emissions and environmental regulation have been a heady mix - we put together a panel of Marine experts - naval architects, marine engineers, master mariners and shipping professional for an engaging webinar discussion "An explosive mix" on 1st May 2021.  It was a huge success with an attendance of over 130 participants.Click to see on You Tube.   

India needs to protect her economic power in transportation by sea which is strategic subject. Indian shipping need be promoted essentially for national cargo security and related socio-commercial reasons of continuous employment generation and forex gains. As experienced during previous GULF conflicts and political embargo, we need tonnage to haul our own requirement of essential goods like fuels (oils, gas,coal etc.,) food, fertilisers and critical minerals. There is provision for requisitioning Indian tonnage registered under Indian flag, under ESMA during any national crisis or by virtue of MS Act Sec 356L and or Sec 411 . Unless Indian shipping is promoted through fiscal measures, it will only deteriorate, as our fleet is aged.

Whenever there is a maritime emergency, be it from natural disasters or man made disasters or pollution incidents, there is a seemingly inevitable phase of confusion. The national disaster response contingency plan does not go into the operational details, nor does it synchronise with the state level or port level plans. When an event occurs, there is a confusion on budgetary approvals, lack of contracts for clean up contractors, lack of a ready and trained response team. All horses seem to pull the cart in different directions. This seminar seeks to highlight the fault lines, discuss solutions and bring out a white paper for the consideration of the Government and the Maritime Administration.

Collective Bargaining Agreement , Capt Shiv Halbe

Corporate Perspective 

- Mr Y. Sharma

Indian scenario, B.B.Sinha,

Gender Parity, Capt Reshma Nilofer

Current Issues, R. Ramakrishnan

MLC-STCW A - Mahesh Yadav

Shore Leave, Vaccine, Relief – 

Capt S. Parashar

MS Bill Amendments – 

Capt Venkat Iyer

Panel discussions, 

Capt Sanjeev Verma

Summarise by Maneesh Pradhan,

Q&A – Capt Kamal Chadha,

The Master has minimal knowledge of the port waters and almost zero capability to interact and instruct the assets he hires, like tugs, mooring boats.. At the same time, the Pilot is not a super human who can understand and react to all the peculiarities of a vessel within moments of boarding the ship. The risk of the operation needs to be recognized and fixing of blame be done in a regulated and professional manner without a witch hunt or criminalisation. 

In reality, the port is always in the dominant position to make rules, and ship owners often bear all the costs of errors. An active and experienced panel discusses this paradox.

A new major commercial and strategic port project has been announced for Gelatia Bay, Nicobar Islands, India. This gives raise to various questions:

1) Is the project commercially viable? 

2) Does any commercial gain justify the amount of damage it will create in the pristine bio-diverse ecology of the island. 

3) New technologies that could be employed to reduce ecological impact. 

4) Geo-strategic importance of the project. 

We discuss all this in this symposium on 26th May 2023 at Seafarers Club, Chennai, India. Speakers: 

Capt Suresh Amirapu on Commercial Opportunities, Challenges and Implementation. 

Mr N R Krishnakumar on New Technologies and its implementation. 

Cmde R S Vasan (IN Retd), Chairman and Founder, Chennai Centre for China Studies, on Geo Strategic Impact.