Discussion On The Merchant Shipping (Amendment) Bill, 2002. (Bill … on 3 December, 2002

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17.34 hrs.

Title: Discussion on the Merchant Shipping (Amendment) Bill, 2002. (Bill passed)

MR. CHAIRMAN: The House will now take up Item no. 14, the Merchant Shipping (Amendment) Bill.

THE MINISTER OF SHIPPING (SHRI VED PRAKASH GOYAL): Sir, I beg to move :

“That the Bill further to amend the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958, and the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963, as passed by Rajya Sabha, be taken into consideration.”

 Sir, with your permission, I would like to make a small submission.

India is an active and prominent member of the International Maritime Organisation, the specialised UN body responsible for establishing and enforcing world standards in maritime shipping. India has had the privilege of being elected as a member of the IMO’s Executive Council ever since it started functioning.

17.36 hrs (Shri P.H. Pandian in the Chair.)

The purpose of the Bill is to ensure that India is strictly adhering to international norms and regulations. India also has international obligations to continuously upgrade the quality of its shipping. Laws pertaining to shipping and maritime affairs have global relevance. Our ships have to trade internationally and could be subjected to inspections at foreign ports to check their compliance with IMO conventions and protocols. Similarly, the foreign flag ships will also be subjected to inspections when they visit Indian ports. To be in line with international standards, India is required to incorporate the provisions of these conventions and protocols in our merchant shipping legislation. We have to be dynamic and responsive to both, need and time. Once the proposed amendments are approved by Parliament, India will be able to keep up its international obligations.

The present Bill contains amendments to 22 sections of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 and one section of the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963, besides addition of 11 new sections to the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 on three major counts. I will not elaborate them but just mention them. First is the amendments which are necessary to implement the provisions of the five conventions or protocols to which India has become a party in the recent past. Second is a consequential amendment to section 116 of the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963 to bring it at par with provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act. Third one relates to amendments needed to meet the operational requirements.

The purpose of the proposed amendments, if I say in one line each, is that we should not face difficulty on foreign ports. The amendments proposed in this regard take care of this aspect. Second, damages involved are to be paid. In such cases, a ship-owner will be required to pay for the damages as per the present rules. The amendments incorporate the provisions of the IMO Convention on the Limitation for Liability for Maritime Claims – briefly called LLMC – 1976 which India has acceded to. This Convention lays down the limits up to which a ship-owner is expected to pay the claims. The proposed amendments are an improvement over the existing provisions in respect of the limitation amounts, replacement of the unit of account from French Franc to special drawing rights to provide insulation against currency fluctuation etc.

In view of heavy oil traffic along our coast, there is a high risk of oil pollution in our waters, which could result in damage to coastal and marine environment. There will also be a requirement of large scale cleaning up operations, which would require very large amount of funds. The existing provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act must be updated in terms of total liability compensation regime as per the Civil Liability and Fund Conventions of 1992 of the IMO to which India has become a party. The proposed amendments offer better limits as well as improved scope of claims.

As a consequence of accession to the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims, 1976 and proposed amendments to the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958, section 116 of the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963 needs to be amended. This is indeed to bring it in line with the limitation of liability for damage to harbour works, basins, waterways and aids to navigation which are prone to damage. As of now, the M.P.T. Act provides for unlimited liability on the ship-owner which is contrary to the provisions of the Convention being incorporated in the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958.

Earlier, the employment of seamen was regulated through Seamen Employment offices. In keeping with the commitment of the Government to increase employment opportunities for skilled youth, foreign shipping companies have been allowed to directly recruit seamen without going through the seamen’s employment offices. It was reported that there were constraints and there were kickbacks.

This is also in line with our policy of deregulation and decentralisation with a view to increasing employment opportunities for the skilled people. They are minor skills, but very high wages are paid once they are employed. Shipping companies increasingly seek the services of the recruitment and placement service providers (manning agents) for employment of seafarers on their vessels. Our officers and seamen are very highly respected on all the international lines. There is really a desire to take more of them and we are increasing facilities for training so that this avenue of employment is opened in a big way. As I said, this has expanded the employment opportunities for our seafarers, but as of now there is no provision to fix the accountability of these agents for the fulfilment of obligations. Though these responsibilities are fixed, they do not fulfil their obligations and that creates problems for the poor employees who have no recourse. The service conditions are specified, but they are not fulfilled and full wages are not given. In order to protect our seafarers from being exploited or being stranded at foreign ports without being paid wages and without any provision for repatriation back home, it is necessary that a system of licensing of recruitment and placement service providers should be brought in. This would ensure that the recruitment and placement service providers would have to fulfil their obligations to the people whom they recruit. It is to facilitate the system of licensing of such service providers that some amendments in the Act have been proposed. The seamen’s employment offices are being given this role of regulating the recruitment and placement service providers in place of their earlier role of regulating employment themselves. In addition, amendments are also proposed to avoid discrimination in employment of seamen and avoidance of malpractices in employment of seamen.

From the point of view of safety as stipulated in the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention, 1974, every Indian ship is required to carry an appropriate ‘minimum safe manning document’ on board. Accordingly, minimum safe manning scales are required to be framed as per the guidelines of the concerned IMO resolution. At present, manning scales are included in the Act itself and, therefore, lack the flexibility that is needed to address the different requirements of different vessels. For instance, larger crew is required on larger vessels and since the coastal vessels are small, small crew is required. Clearly, small ships and offshore vessels which operate in coastal waters will have different manning scales from large foreign going vessels.

In order that the minimum safe manning scale can be prescribed to lay down different standards also for small ships and offshore supply vessels engaged in coastal trade and with the need to providing different manning scales based on the size of the ships, duration of voyage etc., amendments are proposed to make rules in this regard. This will boost the development of coastal shipping, encouraging of which has been recommended by various Committees.

With the proposed amendments, India will not only be able to meet its international commitments arising out of accession to various IMO Conventions and Protocols, but also will be at par with the systems and requirements of other advanced maritime nations.

Sir, with these opening remarks, I now move that Merchant Shipping (Amendment) Bill, 2002 be taken into consideration.

MR.CHAIRMAN : Motion moved:

“That the Bill further to amend the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958, and the Major Port Trust Act, 1963, as passed by Rajya Sabha, be taken into consideration.”

SHRI RAMESH CHENNITHALA (MAVELIKARA): Sir, I rise to support the Bill. This amendment Bill contains amendments of all 22 Sections of the Merchant Shipping Act of 1958 and one Section of the Major Port Trust Act of 1963. Only recently India has signed five international Conventions and Protocols. That has necessitated the amendments in the Merchant Shipping Act of 1958. Also, consequential to this amendment, amendment to Section 116 of the Major Port Trusts Act has become necessary.

Sir, our country has a National Shipping Policy. But our country is ranked 14th amongst all countries in the Globe in matters of shipping. Even though this is a comprehensive Bill, yet mere implementation of all the provisions of this Bill will not resolve the problems that confront this sector… (Interruptions) There are innumerable problems that afflict this sector. To put it rightly, this sector has been neglected for a long period of time. Neither enough financial support was given to this sector through the Budget, nor was this sector taken seriously by any other institution.

Sir, as regards employment opportunities I would like to submit that we can create more employment opportunities in this sector. But unfortunately if you look at the statistics, the employment opportunities in this sector is diminishing. In regard to safety I would like to submit that a very lukewarm attitude has been shown by the Ministry regarding safety. Seventy per cent of our goods are now being handled by foreign ships. Only 30 per cent of our goods are handled by Indian vessels and Indian ships. This itself shows as to how serious we are about this sector.

Sir, according to the Tenth Plan Working Group estimate, within the next five years, India has to take care of 150 ships, carrying goods worth 63.5 million dollars. How are we going to achieve this target? This is a major concern that this sector is faced with today. Our country is earning a lot of revenue from this sector and if we would concentrate more on this area, then the earnings would be even more. But unfortunately, no attention has been paid to this sector.

We have a vast coastline and we have to take it seriously. Maritime shipping has to be given greater importance. As of now, big vessels cannot berth at certain Indian ports. A small country like Singapore is capable of receiving ships of all kinds. Colombo can receive all kinds of ships. However, a vast country like India with its vast coastline cannot receive bigger ships.

Shri A.C. Jos and I were talking about Vallarpadum Container Terminal project. This project is ideally suited to achieve total development of Kerala, and maritime shipping. Unfortunately, in spite of all efforts from Kerala Government, the Central Government has not made serious efforts to implement this project. We were told that this is going to be shifted to Tuticorin. Hon. Chairman may feel happy if it is shifted to Tuticorin.

A study has been made on this. The study revealed that Vallarpadum is the ideal place for setting up a Container Terminal. I do not understand why the Government is sleeping on this, and why it is not making serious efforts to implement this project. If this Vallarpadum Container Terminal project is completed, maritime shipping will get a boost. Larger ships can be received at Cochin, which would generate more employment. It will definitely give an impetus to maritime shipping. However, no effort has been made in this regard by the Central Government. Recently, the hon. Minister visited the area. Even after that, nothing has moved.

We have 12 ports in the country. About 194 million tonnes of goods are handled in these 12 ports. I would request the hon. Minister to look into the functioning of our Port Trusts. Mismanagement, corruption, and favouritism in the Port Trusts have led to the ports coming to a standstill. It is said that this Port Trust is running in a loss. It is running in a loss because of mismanagement, favouritism, and corruption. I would request the hon. Minister to evaluate the functioning of the Port Trust. Those who are responsible for the maladministration should be taken to task.

Regarding shipyards, Shri A.C. Jos is the leader of one of the unions in the Cochin Shipyard. I was told that the Cochin Shipyard was going to be privatised. When Shrimati Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister of India, she inaugurated this shipyard. The good ships were produced in the Cochin Shipyard. There is no doubt the situation in Cochin Shipyard is very bad now because no attention has been paid to this shipyard. Technology has also to be upgraded in this shipyard. No effort has been made in this regard. We have come to know that this is going to be privatised. Who is going to take this and for what? No orders were given to this shipyard for construction of new vessels. Over a period of time, this shipyard has incurred huge losses.

Our Port Trusts are not maintaining international standards of quality. Their management is very poor. The Union Government has paid no attention to Port Trusts and shipyards in the country.

Deep-Sea Ports have become essential now. We have to give more attention to Deep-Sea Ports. I would like to know from the hon. Minister the steps being taken by his Ministry in this regard.

Nobody is objecting to this Bill. The Bill is a welcome step. At the same time, this sector has to be given more prominence since this sector played a very significant role in the development of the country.

With these words, I conclude.