Saravanan's Blog

Source: http://www.sagarsandesh.com/news/new-salary-scale-for-port-dock-workers/ Bringing a happy end to the marathon wage negotiations between the Bipartite Wage  Negotiation Committee (BWNC) comprising five major Federations of Port and Dock  Workers’ Federation and the Indian Ports Association since July last year , both the  parties on Oct. 25 signed the new wage settlement that would heave a sigh of relief  for 50, 000-odd port and dock workers working in 12 Major Ports. The deal was signed in New Delhi by the stakeholders (representatives of five  federations affiliated to INTUC, HMS, CITU and AITUC) in the presence of Mr. B. K.  Sanwariya, Chief Labour Commissioner (Central). According to Shipping Ministry sources, the five-year wage settlement (from 1-1-2012  to 31-12-2016) would come into force with immediate effect . The agreement will be implemented immediately and the arrears (from 1-1-2012 to till  date) will be paid within...

Source: http://www.sagarsandesh.com/news/is-shipping-ministry-trying-to-destroy-maritime-education-in-india/ The recent announcement by Union Minister for Shipping G. K. Vasan to lift the ban  on new approvals of pre-sea maritime training courses is really a bolt from the  blue. Moreover, it is learnt from reliable sources that the Ministry is  contemplating on according approval to various engineering colleges to conduct 4- year Marine Engineering programme. This announcement and contemplation are coming at a juncture when the existing  Maritime Training Institutions are finding it extremely difficult to make sea-time  arrangements for their students.  This sea-time training is a requirement for  successful completion of the degree courses and leading to first level of competency  examinations. In view of these difficulties faced by the Maritime Training Institutions the  Shipping Ministry through its important wing the Directorate ...

"While many seafarers think it was an unwarranted action by the Taiwanese authorities primarily to satisfy their local fishermen and the investigations also cleared Tosa later, the Seaman Guard episode should not be seen as an “Official-harassment” among the international seafaring community." Source: http://www.sagarsandesh.com/news/arrested-foreign-crew-lodged-in-chennai-jail/ While the US-based firm AdvanFort, which owns the anti-piracy escort ship Seaman Guard Ohio that has been detained off the coast of Tamil Nadu, termed the action as “inappropriate,” the local police filed a case against the crew and arrested all of them. According to police sources, a case was registered in Tharuvaikulam Marine PS on Oct. 13 against the crew and guard on board in the vessel Seaman Guard Ohio on the complaint of Assistant Commandant, Indian Coast Guard, Tuticorin, for offences under Arms Act 1959, Essential Commodities Act 1955 and Motor Spirit and High Speed Diesel preventi...

Source:ITF Pic courtesy: http://www.fleetmon.com The Panamanian-flagged bulk carrier Kouyou was detained on Oct 24 in the Port of Quebec , Canada, after maritime labour officials determined that crew were owed more than USD51,000 in backpay. It is the third detention in Canada of a vessel under the new international Maritime Labour Convention (MLC 2006), which came into force worldwide in August, a media statement from ITF has said. Problems aboard the ship were discovered by Mr Gerard Bradbury, an inspector with the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) and Unifor union. Mr Gerard explained:   " T wenty Burmese and Vietnamese crew, including the Canadian Captain James Maung are not being paid or treated properly, and in particular had been shorted on the home-allotment portion of their pay that provides for families left at home while seafarers are abroad at work.” The most alarming situation aboard involved crew who had paid a total of USD6,600 in fe...

Source: http://www.sagarsandesh.com/news/delay-in-completion-of-road-connectivity-projects/ With the actual beneficiaries of port connectivity projects – exporters, importers,  trade bodies and Chambers of Commerce – still dilly-dallying over taking up the  inordinate delay in completion of such projects with the Tamil Nadu State Government  authorities, Chennai Port Trust, another equally important partner in the EXIM trade,  has wrote a detailed letter to the State Chief Secretary, Ms. Sheela Balakrishnan, to  speed up them. According to EXIM experts, it was a welcome move from the Chennai Port management to  draw the State Government’s attention on the undue delays in completion of port  connectivity projects. Moreover, a letter requesting for intervention from port management to the State  Government’s top authority carries more weightage than the normal one. In a detailed letter on Ennore Manali Road Improvement Project (EMRIP) to ...

Source: http://www.sagarsandesh.com/news/govt-indifference-cause-for-indian-shipping-industry-plight/ When global game plan in promoting shipping industry is by attracting investment through tax breaks and sops, I ndia looks the other way and beats itself out of the game by levying around 12 different types of investor-unfriendly taxes on the industry including income, service and MAT that not only scuttle the entrepreneurs interest in the country, but drastically reduce the Indian tonnage, v oiced the speakers in unison at the India Shipping Summit 2013 held in Mumbai from Oct. 21 to 23. Regressive taxation, bureaucratic indifference and governance apathy combined together have reduced the Indian tonnage share from 4.18% in 1960 to 0.79% (roughly 1, 800 ships at now) in world fleet when the global fleet growth on the other hand had zoomed from 36, 000 ships to 1, 25, 000 ships during the same period , they said. The 12 different types of tax levy including service tax and MA...

Source:Naam Tamilar Party statement: இலங்கையில் தமிழர்கள் சுதந்திரமாகவும், சிங்களவர்களுக்கு இணையாக சம உரிமை பெறும் வரை இலங்கையை காமன்வெல்த் அமைப்பில் இருந்து நீக்கி வைக்க வேண்டும் என்றும், அந்நாட்டுத் தலைநகர் கொழும்பில் நடைபெறவுள்ள காமன்வெல்த் தலைவர்கள் மாநாட்டில் இந்திய பிரதமரோ அல்லது இந்திய அரசுக் குழுவோ கலந்துகொள்ளக் கூடாது என்றும் தமிழக சட்டப் பேரவையில் அனைத்துக் கட்சிகளும் ஒருமனதாக நிறைவேற்றியுள்ள தீர்மானத்தை நாம் தமிழர் கட்சி வரவேற்கிறது. தமிழ்நாட்டு மக்கள் மட்டுமின்றி, உலகத் தமிழர்கள், மனித உரிமையாளர்கள், அமைப்புகள், கனடா போன்ற ஜனநாயக நாடுகளின் உணர்வுகளை பிரதிபலிக்கும் வகையில் இத்தீர்மானத்தை முன்மொழிந்த தமிழக முதலமைச்சரை நாம் தமிழர் கட்சி பாராட்டுகிறது. காமன்வெல்த் அமைப்பானது சர்வதேச அரசியலில் எந்த வித முக்கியத்துவமும் இல்லாத ஒரு அமைப்புதான் என்றாலும், அதனை கொழும்புவில் நடத்த அனுமதிப்பதும், காமன்வெல்த் உறுப்பு நாடுகளின் தலைவர்கள் மாநாட்டிற்கு இலங்கை அதிபர் ராஜபக்சாவை தலைமையேற்க அனுமதிப்பதும் காமன்வெல்த் அமைப்பின் அடிப்படை கொள்கைகளுக்கு முரணானதாகும். காமன்வெல்த்...

Source: http://www.sagarsandesh.com/news/gwadar-port-to-be-functional-in-next-five-months/                                                            Photo credit: www.chinapage.com Gwadar Port, located on the shores of the Arabian Sea in the western province of Balochistan and developed with huge Chinese investment, will be made fully functional in the next five month’s time, Pakistan’s Minister for Ports and Shipping Senator Kamran Michael has said. Gwadar Port, which is about 533 km from Karachi and 120 km from Iranian border, is located at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, just outside the Straits of Hormuz, near the key shipping routes in and out of the Persian Gulf. The Minister made the important announcement about Gwadar Port at the inaugural session of the 3rd International Conference and Exhibition on Shipping, Logistics an...

Source: http://www.sagarsandesh.com/news/jsw-steel-commits-to-export-huge-quantity-of-slag-through-chennai-port/ As an outcome of vigorous marketing from Chennai Port’s Traffic Department over the past few months to get more captive cargo to tide over the looming revenue loss after the Madras High Court ban on coal and iron ore, steel major M/s. JSW Steel Ltd has committed to use the facilities in the port to export Blast Furnace Granulated Slag. Speaking to Sagar Sandesh, a senior Chennai Port official said that JSW Steel has expressed its ability to export about 40, 000 tonnes of Blast Furnace Granulated Slag every month from Chennai Port. It may be worth recalling at this juncture that JSW Steel is planning to export slag via Chennai after a gap of five years. Ground-granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS or GGBFS) is obtained by quenching molten iron slag (a by-product of iron and steel-making) from a blast furnace in water or steam to produce a glassy, granular product that...

Source: http://www.parismou.org During the first month of implementation of the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC, 2006), seven ships were detained for MLC-related deficiencies. On  Aug 20  this year, MLC, 2006 entered into force and became a relevant instrument for the Paris MoU, thus making the MLC requirements officially subject to Port State Control (PSC). According to a latest media release, it means that 1 0% of the total number of detentions (68) in the Paris MoU area in this period was MLC 2006 related. The detentions were imposed by four different port States: Canada (two ships), Denmark, the Russian Federation and Spain (three ships). The detained ships were flying the flag of Cyprus (two ships), Liberia, the Netherlands, Panama (two ships) and Tanzania. A total of 4,260 deficiencies have been recorded during the first month of MLC implementation. About 490 deficiencies out of the 4,260 recorded (11.5%) were related to any of the ILO Conventions listed ...

Source: http://www.sagarsandesh.com/news/chennai-custom-house-agents-stage-demo/ Chennai: With a view to drawing the attention of the top brass of Chennai Customs Commissionerate over undue delay in processing import bills, hundreds of representatives and field-staff of Chennai Custom House Agents staged an attention-seeking demonstration on Oct. 7. The representatives were forced to stage a demonstration in front of the Chennai Customs Commissionerate gate, as the processing of import bill by the Chennai Customs officials has now been prolonged to a week against the earlier practice of a maximum 48 hours. According to a CHA representative, who participated in the token attention-seeking demonstration, officials of the Chennai Customs are deliberately delaying the process due to different reasons. Speaking to Sagar Sandesh, the representative said: “ Though the Commissionerate is among the few in the country, which gets good revenue year after year, shortage of field officer...