Sea and Coast

JULY 2019 Ɩ Volume - 03 Ɩ Issue - 07 Ɩ RNI NO: DELENG / 2017 / 70663 Ɩ ₹ 115/-

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Distributed in India,Dubai,Singapore,Canada,Greece and Israel DELHI POLICE LICENSING UNIT NO: F.2 (S.6) PRESS/2016

MARITIME

Admiral RK Dhowan (Retd), PVSM, AVSM, YSM, ADC, Former Chairman, National Maritime Foundation and Former Chief of the Naval Staff

Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan (Retd.)

AVSM & Bar, VSM, Director General of NMF

Sanjay Bhatia (IAS)

Heike Deggim Director, Maritime Safety Division at International Maritime Organization

Chairman, Mumbai Port Trust

O-7 CDR (ret.) Eyal Pinko Maritime Cyber and Security senior consultant Phd candidate for naval strategy

Capt. (Dr.) Gurpreet S Khurana, Indian Navy Former Executive Director, NMF

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CONTENT Pg No.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS & COLUMNS

9. India’s Maritime Interests And harnessing the Blue Economy 13. Exclusive Interview of Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan 21. Exclusive Interview of Heike Deggim 26. Exclusive Interview of Sanjay Bhatia 30. India as a Challenge to China’s Belt and Road Initiative 34. Force Buildup of the Egyptian Navy 39. Maritime Fraud 41.

Panoramic view of the Mega Coastal Projects

NEWS 42.

Andaman & Nicobar Command joins hands with Sadhguru for International Day of Yoga

43. Tanker collided with bridge, Mississippi river 44. Search underway for woman who fell off cruise ship between France and Spain

45. Hungary boat crash: Arrested captain onboard another ship during different accident

46. German container ship damaged gantry crane, detained 47. INS Tarkash at Alexandria, Egypt (28 june - 01 july 2019) 48. Indian Navy Executes OP Sankalp

RNI NO: DELENG/2017/70663

Amit Kumar Editor-In-Chief Chesta Mishra Managing Editor

SEA AND COAST MONTHLY MARITIME MAGAZINE

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Printer & Publisher : Amit Kumar, E-177, Ward No 2, Mehrauli, New Delhi 30 Place of Publication : E-177, Ward No 2, Mehrauli, New Delhi 30 Name of Printing Press : Perfect Impression Services, 43-DSIDC Complex, Kotla, Mubarak Pur, New Delhi-110003 MARKETING marketing@seaandcoast.in SUBSCRIPTION subscription@seaandcoast.in WEBSITE www.seaandcoast.in Please Note : Views expressed in the articles are those of the authors and may not be shared by the Editor or the members of the editorial board.

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JULY 2019

ADVISORY BOARD

Welcome Address at Indo-Pacific Regional Dialogue - 2019 Admiral RK Dhowan (Retd), PVSM, AVSM, YSM, ADC,By Former Chairman, Admiral National RK Dhowan (Retd), PVSM, AVSM, Maritime Foundation and YSM, ADC, Former Chief Chairman, of the Naval Staff National Maritime Foundation and Former Chief of the Naval Staff

Capt. Radhika Menon (World’s First women capt to receive an IMO award)

Capt J.K. Sama Ex Marine pilot at Libyan Terminal ‘Marsa Al Hariga’ (Tobruk) Libya

Dr. Malini V Shankar Former Director General of shipping Member, Board of Governors, World Maritime University, Malmo, Sweden

O-7 CDR (ret.) Eyal Pinko Maritime cyber and security senior consultant.

Phd candidate for naval strategy

Digvijay Pratap singh Managing Director, Main Mast Marsec. Pvt. Ltd

Admiral Jayanath Colombage RSP, VSV, USP, rcds, psc Msc (DS), MA (IS), Dip in IR, Dip in CR, FNI (Lond) is the 18th Commander of the Shri Lankan Navy

Dr. Sadanand Gupta Deputy Collector Khurja (U.P)

Mr. Joginder Singh Executive Director Sriram Institute of Marine Studies

From the Editor’s Desk

Editorial

A

voyage has been described as a maritime adventure in the marine insurance act. With the events of the last month, that description has begun to come true in the literal sense. Two merchant tankers were attacked after they exited the strait of Hormuz. We still clearly don't know by who and why. What we do know is the exorbitant rise in war risk insurance premia and the enhanced presence of naval assets in the geography.Seafarers who Amit Kumar go out to earn a living and continue to be kidnapped even abandoned, now have another reason to fear -they must Editor-In-Chief contend with their work places and temporary homes ending up as pawns in a larger geopolitical posturing.

Commercial interests now find it a little more difficult to decide where to position their open vessels given the exorbitant premium when they cross the 58°E meridian westward. At the deep end, it will be the consumer who will bear the brunt of the increased costs. By keeping the seas safe and secure, we will keep our homes running for far lesser than what it was if the seas remain dangerous and uncertain than it already is.

IMO's theme for the Day of the Seafarer is not just resonates with the maritime community,but the world over: gender mainstreaming and gender equality. We hope that this theme will start a conversation that will help women to come onboard in much larger numbers. We hope that questions like “If women go to sea who will look after the homes and children?” – will not be on anyone's mind any longer.#WeAreOnboard.

With the theme for the World Maritime day also being “Empowering Women in the Maritime Community”, we feel that gender mainstreaming maybe be at a tipping point. We hope that it is so. We hope to see visible political will and several new initiatives- that seek to attract women into the amazing roles that exist at sea and ashore. Let us enable thisor loseout on an enormous talent pool.

This was also a month where the MSC met at the IMO. They discussed GloFouling, scoping on Maritime Autonomous Surface ships and eNavigationamong many other regulatory matters.

Humans have an endearing relationship with the oceans. Oceans not only transport most of the worlds goods, they also are the lungs of our planet providing most of the oxygen we breathe. They are a major source of food and medicines and a critical part of the biosphere. The UN World Oceans day works to raise awareness of the role the oceans play in our lives and the role humans have in depleting these resources. The UN hopes to mobilize and unite the world's population for sustainable management of the world's oceans.

Despite the two attacks on merchant ships, this was a month where all the right noises were made in the larger global context. This month was about gender mainstreaming, gender equality and protecting the oceans while sustaining and promoting the Blue economy and keeping the seas secure.

SHE @ SEA NAME : Pratigya Arora POST : Chief Officer COMPANY NAME: Shipping Corporation of India

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E V A L C Y CON

B N O C BLUE

M O N O C LUE E

Exclusive Column Interview

BLUECON BLUE ECONOMY CONCLAVE 2019, 26-27 Feb 19

INDIA'S MARITIME INTERESTS AND HARNESSING THE BLUE ECONOMY It is indeed a distinct honour for me to be present here today for the blue Economy Conclave 2019, and it is a privilege to share my thoughts with this august audience.

Oceans are central to life on earth. They are rich in oil and mineral resources, they are suppliers of oxygen, absorbers of carbon-di-oxide, a virtual heat sink, rich in bio-diversity and have emerged as the global economic highways for transit of trade. With depletion of resources on land, humankind has turned towards the oceans and there is a misperception that oceans have an unending resource base and are an infinite sink, but nothing could be further away from reality. Over the past few decades, we are witnessing the pollution of the seas and contamination of the natural marine habitat, resulting in an adverse impact of climate change on the oceans. Studies have

India is essentially a maritime nation with a natural outflow towards the seas with our island territories of Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal and Lakshadweep Islands in the Arabian Sea as the virtual extended arms of India. India has a coastline of 7516 kms and Exclusive Economic Zone of 2 million square kilometers. Approximately, 95% of India's trade by volume and 77% by value transits by seas and foreign trade accounts for nearly 30% of India's GDP.

indicated that almost 80% of the pollutants in the seas emanate from land and if the current rate of pollution continues, in a few decades we will have more plastic in the oceans than fish. The concept of 'Blue Economy' has emerged as the new paradigm and I would like to define harnessing the Blue Economy as economic development of our maritime interests by efficient utilisation of marine resources with minimum impact on the environment and ensuring sustainable development of the oceans.

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Exclusive Column In recent years, under the leadership of Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, there have been a series of initiatives for sustainable development in the maritime domain including the quest to harness the Blue Economy.

The Hon'ble Prime Minister has linked the Blue Chakra or wheel on the national flag to our potential to harness the Blue Economy. He has also outlined his vision for the Indian Ocean as SAGAR which means the ocean and the acronym stands for security and growth for all in the region. India's vast maritime interests are also enablers of our Blue Economy and I will highlight some of the maritime sectors, which are likely to witness significant growth in the coming years and will also serve as avenues for maritime cooperation to harness the Blue Economy with other neighbouring countries.

India has 12 major ports and 200 intermediate and minor ports. The port handling capacity of these ports which currently stands at 1500 million metric tons per annum is likely to increase to 2500 million metric tons per annum over the next ten years. The Government of India has launched the ambitious Sagarmala project, and our dynamic Honourable Shipping Minister is pursuing this port – led development initiative based on four pillars of p o r t m o d e r n i s a t i o n , c o n n e c t i v i t y, p o r t – l e d industrialisation and coastal community development.

Sagarmala actually comprises of about 150 integrated projects with a planned investment of about 60 billion US Dollars. Sagarmala envisages Development of transshipment hubs and greenfield Port Infrastructure with minimum impact on the environment. Sagarmala will also ensure connectivity of ports with the hinterland through multimodal road and rail connectivity and inland waterways.

The mercantile marine and shipping industry is also envisaged to grow in the near future. India currently has a merchant ship fleet of approx. 1,390 ships flying the Indian flag totaling nearly 22 million Gross Registered Tons (GRT). While over 90% of India's trade by volume transits by sea, only seven percent is carried on Indian flagged ships. To enable India's growing foreign trade to be carried on Indian hulls, the Indian Government is providing incentives for Indian registered and Indian flagged shipping and has initiated measures to increase tonnage of 'Indian Controlled Shipping' by promoting our ship building industry.

India has a vibrant shipbuilding and warship building industry with 27 shipyards. Recently, the Government of India has given a major boost to the shipbuilding industry by according it special infrastructure status and permitting 100 per cent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in shipbuilding. Joint venture partnerships between shipyards could be avenues for future maritime cooperation, and enhancing employment opportunities in the shipbuilding sector. It should be our endeavour to progressively build ships in accordance with the Energy Efficiency Design Index approved by the IMO and propelled by environmentally friendly fuel.

Another aspect I would like to mention is the warship building industry in India which is firmly anchored on selfreliance and indigenization. The Indian Navy made its perspective plans in 1948, inducted naval architects into the Navy in 1955, set up its naval design directorate in 1964. India built its first indigenous naval warship, a patrol vessel INS Ajay in 1961 at Garden Reach Shipyard in Kolkata. Over the past 50 years our naval designers have designed and our indigenous shipyards have built ships for the Indian Navy resulting in our transformation from buyers Navy to builders Navy. Today it is a matter of great pride that all 40 ships and submarines under construction are being built in Indian shipyards both public and private.

These range from aircraft carrier to frigates, destroyers and submarines. It is our endeavor to progressively increase the indigenous content so that future warships and submarines are 100% Made in India.

India currently has over 15,000 kms of navigable inland waterways and in the first phase, the government is developing 4,500 kms as five major national waterways.

Currently, 94 percent of freight in India moves by road or rail and development of inland waterways will enhance transportation over water, which is cheaper (economical), safer and cleaner. The planned development of additional inland waterways presents a huge opportunity for investment and growth in India.

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Exclusive Column Interview The fishing industry is another sector which provides significant opportunities for growth. India has approximately 2,50,000 fishing boats, with 4 million active fishermen and 14 million people as part of the fishing community. The annual marine fish landings in India are over 11.41 million tons which accounts for approximately 5.3% of the world's production and makes us the 3rd largest fish producing country in the world. The sector contributes around 7 billion USD to India's foreign exchange earnings and has a potential to grow much more.

However, this is only scratching the surface of the vast potential of the fishing industry in India which is largely coastal in nature, with logistic and maintenance support being provided by local, small-scale enterprises and fishing boats operating in coastal waters. There exists a huge potential for growth in the fishing sector by undertaking deep sea fishing, increasing the size and numbers of current fishing fleet and enhancing the support infrastructure for stowage, processing and transporting the catch. The Government has promulgated the national policy on Marine Fisheries in 2017, which would give a boost to sustainable Deep Sea Fishing. Deep sea fishing is another avenue where India could cooperate to harness the Blue Economy. This would also result in coastal community development and enhanced employment opportunities in the fishing sector.

India has over 1300 Islands and Islets as part of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Lakshadweep group and Islands off the West and East Coast of India.

The Government has prepared a comprehensive plan of the development of the Islands, which takes into account aspects of security, economic sustenance, environmental preservation, social and cultural sustenance. This development of the Islands will ensure green field infrastructure projects and opportunities for controlled ecotourism. opening of the maritime tourism sector could open up a host of opportunities in the future, for development of marinas and cruise tourism. This will enhance opportunities for marine connectivity and cruise tourism with our littoral neighbours in the Bay of Bengal, which is the largest bay in the world with seven countries located on the Rim of the bay.

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India's EEZ also provides offshore energy resources and we have oil and exploration areas off the west and east coast of India. India has also been allocated deep sea bed mining areas in the Central Indian Ocean and these sectors are likely to REGISTER significant growth in the coming years.

Renewable ocean energy is another un-harnessed niche sector with immense scope in the future. This includes tidal and wave energy and ocean thermal energy conversion. It can therefore be seen that while there are an ocean of opportunities for development of maritime interests for economic growth, the challenges lie in ensuring that these are greenfileld projects, with a minimum impact on the environment, to ensure sustainable development of the oceans.

As you are all aware the United Nations General Assembly, published a document in 2015 titled 'Transforming our world' , the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development with 15 specific goals and 169 targets. Of these, SDG 14, pertains to the conservation and sustainable use of oceans, seas and marine resources.

Towards this, India has submitted its voluntary national review report to the high level political forum of the UN, on the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in July 2017. Therefore, while India is focused on economic development of its maritime interests it is also committed to traveling down the path of sustainable development. A clear agenda has been formulated for promoting the 'Blue Revolution', while charting the way ahead for preventing pollution, integrated plan for fishing, greenfield infrastructure projects optimal utilization of resources with minimum impact on the environment and ensuring sustainable development of the oceans.

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Exclusive Column In conclusion, I would like to highlight five major takeaways:a) The United Nation's document 'Transforming our world – Agenda 2030' and the 'Sustainable Development Goal, SDG 14', provides a template for conservation of the oceans, seas and resources. We now need to outline a perspective plan for sustainable development and growth in different avenues of the maritime sector. b) As a maritime nation, India has a significant potential to harness the Blue Economy. We need to chart a national level maritime policy to harness the Blue Economy, for sustainable development of the oceans. c) There is a requirement for an apex level organization to coordinate and integrate planning process of various departments and agencies in the maritime domain for economic development of our maritime interests and implementing Blue Economy initiatives.

e) The Honourable Prime Minister has launched a dynamic initiative of Swach Bharat (Clean India). We need to extend the concept to Swach Sagar to ensure clean and healthy oceans for our future generations.

The seas around us are gaining new found importance as each day goes by, because of their linkages with the Blue Economy and I have no doubt that the current century is the century of the seas.

India has vast maritime interests with are also enablers of our Blue Economy and have a vital relationship with the nation's economic growth. The recent initiatives and developments in the maritime domain are pointers to indicate that India has once again turned towards the sea and is destined to emerge as a resurgent maritime nation in the 21st century.

d) To fully implement the Honourable Prime Minister's vision of SAGAR, that is, 'Security and Growth for All In The Region', we need to draw up a detailed roadmap for maritime cooperation with various countries of the region to harness the Blue Economy so as to shape a positive and favorable maritime environment in the Indian Ocean Region.

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Exclusive Interview Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan (Retd) AVSM & Bar, VSM

Director General of National Maritime Foundation (NMF)

How do you see your tenure as the Director General of the National Maritime Foundation? Is civilian life very different?

It is a great honour to be able to be the CEO of quite so formidable and well-reputed a Think-tank as the National Maritime Foundation. The NMF is India's sole think-tank that concentrates unwaveringly upon the entire gamut of activities that make up India's maritime domain. The Foundation is blessed to have an outstanding team of experienced, erudite, well-educated and extremely enthusiastic men and women. For my own part, I am very happy that over the past two years that I have been privileged to have been at the helm of the NMF, I have been able to build upon the strong foundations that have been laid by my very illustrious predecessors — Rear Admiral Ravi Vohra, Commodore Uday Bhaskar, Vice Admiral Pradeep Kaushiva and Commander Vijay Sakhuja. I have often sought their guidance and advice and have invariably come away the richer for it. As for civilian life, of course it is very different from the four decades I have spent wearing the world's best uniform - that of the Indian Navy. However, it has its own rewards and its own challenges and I am singularly fortunate to be able to not only retain my links and bonds with the Defence Services but to actually enhance these in significant fashion.

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Sir, recently you inaugurated a workshop that was organised in New Delhi, India, by the National Maritime Foundation (NMF) and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on the theme “Securing the Maritime Commons: India, the European Union, and Indian Ocean Maritime Security.” Can you elaborate upon the motives underpinning this workshop?

In the past few years the European Union (as a collective, and as opposed to just a sprinkling of its constituent member-States) has increasingly been augmenting its image as a leading exponent of soft-power, with a far more robust one of being a serious security-player in the IndoPacific in general and the Indian Ocean in particular.

Unknown to many Indian analysts - and to much of the Indian populace - the EU is already playing some strong geopolitical cards, of which Operation ATALANTA in and off the Gulf of Aden, the maritime capacity-building in Somalia (EUCAP Somalia), the Djibouti Code of Conduct (DCoC), the Critical Maritime Routes in the Indian Ocean (CRIMARIO), the Indian Ocean Regional Information Sharing & Incident Management Network (IORIS), and, the Maritime Security (MaSé) programme in respect of Eastern and Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean Region, are some illustrative examples. Given that maritime issues are dominating global, regional and national thinking, and given that this focus upon matters maritime is likely to continue undiminished for the foreseeable future, it is important for 'Maritime India' to engage the EU. As India's sole think-tank that concentrates entirely upon the maritime domain, it is only natural that the NMF should have been the EU's partnerof-choice at the Track-2 and the Track 1.5 levels of maritime engagement between Indian and the EU. Maritime security is far wider than military security (i.e., ‘hard' security) alone. Maritime security implies safety from

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Exclusive Interview from threats arising in the sea, from the sea, and, through the sea. These threats could be natural, manmade, or a hybrid of the two. There is clearly much to be gained by exchanging perspectives and best-practices in respect of this wider understanding of maritime security. That was what motivated the workshop.

What is the objective of NMF? The vision of the NMF is to be the foremost resource centre for the development and advocacy of strategies for the promotion and protection of India's maritime interests.

The NMF has nine objectives that define its activities — first, to provide constructive inputs for policy-formulation; second, to conduct substantial and substantive studies and research, spanning the entire spectrum of disciplines relevant to India's maritime interests; third, to study and evaluate factors affecting India's holistic maritime-security, with special focus upon opportunities, challenges and vulnerabilities, in order to provide policyrecommendations relevant to the formulation of India's national security strategy; fourth, to carry out studies of international relations and geo-political factors of strategic significance to India, with a view to suggesting maritime Confidence-Building Measures (CBMs) and enhancing maritime cooperation among seafaring nations, as also to achieve a stable security environment in the Indo-Pacific Region; fifth, to initiate, undertake, organise and facilitate study courses, conferences, seminars, lectures and research, in matters relating to relevant aspects of global maritime affairs and offer fellowships, prizes, scholarships and stipends in furtherance of the objectives of the Foundation; sixth, to promote awareness and informed public debate on the importance of the maritime dimension of India; seventh, to study India's maritime heritage and record, with the objective of disseminating knowledge of maritime history among India's youth, so as to generate abiding pride in our ancient maritime traditions and to keep them alive in the contemporary global environment; eighth, to associate with government departments, educational institutions and other bodies with similar or

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allied aims; and ninth, to establish and maintain libraryresources and information services so as to facilitate the study of maritime issues, as also undertake, facilitate and provide for the regular and periodic publication of newsletters, research papers, monographs, journals and books that would further awareness-of and interest-in maritime affairs.

What are the steps taken to improve the situation of Merchant Shipping?

India's merchandise trade, as a percentage of its GDP (i.e., India's 'Openness Index') has been rising sharply since the 1990s and has jumped from 13.1% in 1990 to its present average decadal value of 36%. 95% of India's merchandise trade, by volume, is seaborne and underscores the criticality to India of maintaining and strengthening the symbiotic relationship between 'Flag' and 'Trade'. Thus, the revival and rejuvenation of India's merchant shipping is a high priority in the promotion and pursuit of India's maritime interests. This has been a consistent exhortation from the NMF to policy-makers within the Government. To meet the challenge of external merchandise-trade there is a crying need for India to expand and modernise her merchant marine and create a number of efficient greenfield ports upon both coasts as well as in her island territories. While India's merchant fleet comprises an impressive-sounding 1371 ships and figures in the global 'top-twenty', it is sobering to note that this figure includes every type of vessel from tugboats to super-tankers. Of the 1371 ships in the Indian Register on 31 December 2014, only some 32%, i.e., 443 vessels are deployed for overseas trade. The vast bulk - some 68% are engaged in coastal trade. While that might by itself indicate a thriving coastal sea-borne trade, this is far from the case, because the tonnage carried by this 68% is a mere 12% of the total Gross Tonnage of the Indian Fleet.

In other words, 32% of Indian bottoms account for 88% of the Gross Tonnage! In terms of technological advancement, too, the Indian merchant fleet is in a far from comfortable position, because a merchant-fleet consisting largely of old ships is likely to be technologically outstripped by its competitors. The relative age of the fleet is thus an important indicator of technological advancement. Indian-flag shipping, both coastal and overseas, has a significant proportion (54.2% and 50.8% respectively) of vessels that are more than 15 years old and whose construction and outfitting technology is completely out of step with modern global safety and efficiency practices. Moreover, less than 7% of India's trade is carried on Indian hulls. This has serious implications. For instance, despite availability of the cargo and the keenness of both buyer and seller to effect a sale, India was unable to lift Iranian crude oil just in the run-up to the current US-driven sanctions, because it simply did not possess enough Indian-flagged crude-oil tankers and SEA AND COAST

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Exclusive Interview tankers were unavailable from the global market on account of their insurance companies being dependent upon the USA.

The NMF has long been advocating better administration of Indian merchant ships as well as that of international shipping calling at Indian ports, and ensuring that both categories remain compliant with ecological and safety regulations and standards laid down by the IMO. For its part, the Indian shipping industry has been representing against the disadvantages under which it is forced to operate. For one thing, the manning scale of Indian flag vessels is not at par with those applicable to vessels of other countries, resulting in higher manning and operating costs of Indian-flag vessels.For another, FO (Fuel oil) and DO (Diesel oil) for Indian flag vessels is costlier than that for foreign-flag vessels,once again resulting in Indian-flag vessels having to suffer higher operating costs. For a third, the salary received by Indian seafarers working on board Indian coastal vessels is not exempted from income tax. In order to offset the tax component, Indian shipping companies are forced to increase wages of coastal crew by some 30%! Of late, I am happy to find some encouraging signs, in the form of the new Merchant Shipping Bill, the progressive relaxation of Cabotage Rules to make coastal shipping more attractive, and, the creation of a vehicle for specialised funding. However, the shipbuilding industry in India — at least that concerning the building of commercial ships for India's mercantile marine — remains a very depressing story, and, unless this changes, India's merchant shipping scenario will not improve significantly.

At Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) invitation, a number of journalists and media personnel from the member states of the Indian Rim Ocean Association (IORA) paid a one-week visit to India during November 11-18, 2017 as part of a familiarization program. Can you shed some light on how this visit will prove beneficial to the country?

Strengthening the already-extant image of India as the leading maritime power of the Indian Ocean Region is necessary to establish the country as “a net provider of security within the Indian Ocean and beyond”. This is, in many ways, akin to 'brand-positioning'. As a 'brand', India

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has a great deal of which it needs to be proud and is naturally keen to showcase its economic, industrial, entrepreneurial, innovation, and socio-cultural achievements - some of which have a lineage stretching back thousands of years while others are more recent vintage.Journalists and media personnel are important catalysts in the business of perception-management and brand-positioning. They report and recount what they have seen first-hand with far greater passion and conviction than that which they merely perceive through the publicity machinery of governmental machinery. India is 'magic' and needs to be seen to be truly believed. This reportage helps shapes the individual and collective consciousness of the recipients of the media's messages and shapes the environment. India is keen to use IORA as one of the vehicles by which its visionary concept of SAGAR (Security And Growth for All in the Region) can be advanced.

The NMF works in varied areas. Disaster Management is one of them. How do you see the disaster management of the recent cyclone that hit Odisha?

At a macrolevel, the increase in frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones is a direct fallout of the manner in which human beings are adversely impacting their environment — what is commonly referred-to as 'climate change'. How does this affect maritime security? Maritime security has been accurately defined as freedom from threats arising in- or –from- or –through the sea. These threats could arise from natural causes or from manmade ones, or from the interplay of one with the other, as exemplified by environmental degradation and global warming. Insofar as the targets of such threats (arising from a lack of maritime security) are concerned, these could be individuals themselves — or 'groupings' of individuals, such as societies and/or nation-states. When these threats address the regional fabric itself, nation-states find themselves increasingly enmeshed in a complex web of security interdependence, which tends to be regionally focused and a robust regional initiative ought to be a logical outcome of this regional focus. Of all these threats to human security, the adverse impact of climate change is perhaps the most ubiquitous. Ironically, despite their utter pervasiveness across both space and time, the security-

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Exclusive Interview impacts of climate change are amongst the least studied in nation-states such as India. Consequently, India has been struggling to evolve genuine mitigating and/or coping strategies. Cyclone Fani, which recently hit the coast of Odisha (on 03 May 2019), was a Category-Four Extremely Severe Tropical Revolving Storm (TRS). It generated wind speeds of over 130 knots (275 kmph) and its damagepotential was enormous. It is to the great credit of the government of Odisha and the National Disaster Management Authority that they were able to execute, at the hamlet-, village-, town- and district levels, Coping/Mitigating Strategies that had been painstakingly drawn up much earlier. This resulted in relatively low figures of human lives lost, even though the loss of property and infrastructure was huge. Some 12,00,000 people from the coastal districts of Odisha were evacuated to cyclone shelters, including schools and other government buildings before Fani made landfall.

outset, it is important to bear in mind that the 'Blue Economy' is NOT merely a part of some other sort of economy. It is a model that encompasses the entire economy of India and rests on three pillar, namely, an acknowledgement of the centrality of the oceans as the font of all life on Earth; an acknowledgement of the utter unaffordability of any further degradation of the Earth's environment and the ecology that the environment sustains; and, last but not the least, the recognition that only sustainable extraction and exploitation of the planet's living and non-living resources will permit the human race to survive upon the planet Earth. At the policy-level, the NMF has submitted to the Government a detailed draft of India's Maritime Policy, which is founded upon the twin needs of holistic maritime security (and not merely 'military' security) on the one hand and the Blue Economy (centred upon the environment and sustainable economic development) on the other, both resting upon a legal foundation that reconciles Indian domestic law with international treaty law that has been duly ratified by India.

The NMF has also been proactively contributing to the formulation of public policy in this regard and regularly hosts public conferences, seminars and workshops on this very subject. Amongst the more widely read books on these issues is the NMF's “The Blue Economy: Concept, Constituents and Development”..

The Indian Navy, as usual, was brilliant. It had already deployed three of its warships –the Sahyadri, the Ranvir and the Kadmatt— to track the cyclone.Equipped with relief material and medical teams, these three warships were the first responders to start rescue work after the cyclonic storm hit the coast in Odisha.Teams of naval divers were also moved to Odisha from Visakhapatnam, and additional warships of the Indian Navy were placed at instant readiness at Visakhapatnam. The NMF has been undertaking intensive studies of the impacts of climate change upon maritime security. It has also tied up collaborative studies on this very subject, with its partner think-tanks in countries such as Bangladesh, China and Israel, and, it intends to continue to provide Indian policymakers with policy-relevant inputs and recommendations Environmental and sustainable development concerns are central to every major public discussion.

Can you elaborate on the actions and steps taken thus far by the NMF? What do you think is the prudent way to check environmental issues?

This question actually addresses the ongoing contribution of the NMF to India's endeavour to transition from a 'Brown Economy' model to a 'Blue Economy' one. At the very

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Exclusive Interview You have been critical of the proposal of shifting the Coast Guard from the Ministry of Defence to the MHA. Can you share the details regarding your apprehension?

The answer to coastal security lies in synergising the efforts of the Indian Navy, and the Indian Coast Guard, along with those of several other stakeholders in the 'maritime security and safety' community. It does not lie in simply positioning the Coast Guard in one or another Ministry. It will not be solved by border-management alone, especially because unlike the case on the land, crossing a nation's maritime borders may not automatically place one in the sovereign territory of some other nation. What is needed is a degree of synergy and coordination that cuts across multiple ministries, departments and agencies.

These include (but are not limited-to) the ministries of law, external affairs, shipping, petroleum and natural gas, agriculture (fisheries), earth sciences, new and renewable energy, finance, health, home, as also several departments that function directly under the PMO (such as the intelligence agencies, the department of space, atomic energy), etc.

How do you think the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Act East' policy is beneficial to India?

India's 'Act East' Policy, which was unveiled at the 12th ASEAN-India Summit in 2014, held in Nay Pyi Taw, the capital of Myanmar, signals India's intent to undertake a far more proactive and action-oriented engagement of East and South-East Asia than had hitherto been the case with the 'Look East Policy'of the 1990s. It is an articulation

by New Delhi of a desired end-State wherein the economic, material and societal wellbeing of the people of India is assured through the leveraging of the quintessential oneness of the Indian and Pacific oceanic expanses - a great spatial and functional continuum that was interrupted by a mere 450-odd years that we now refer-to as the European Colonial period. The Act East Policy is an emphatic statement that the time has come to consign this colonial interregnum to the pages of history and that it is time to move on, towards the attainment of mutually beneficial geoeconomic objectives at both, regional and national levels. These geoeconomic objectives are themselves largely a function of merchandise trade; in particular, the enormous energy resources of the Indian Ocean Region and the demand for these resources in the countries of the Pacific, and, the huge manufacturing resources of the Pacific and the corresponding demand for these in countries of the Indian Ocean. This is important to understand because the pursuit of geoeconomic objectives largely define India's strategic geography and this strategic geography is what India conceptualises in spatial terms as the 'Indo-Pacific'.

What actually is this relatively-unfamiliar animal: 'Strategic Geography'? And how does it differ from 'real

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Geography'? If one were to take a chart or map that depicts 'real' geography and then place upon it a set of coordinates defined by specific latitudes and longitudes, and, within the area that has been so bounded or enclosed, if one were to then give special focus - at the national-level - in terms of the planning and execution of one's geopolitical strategies, this enclosed or bounded area would define one's 'strategic geography'. Obviously, the strategic geography of one country, say India for instance, can hardly be expected to be the same as that of, say, Maldives, or, for that matter, the USA. Insofar as India is concerned, Prime Minister Modi has unequivocally described the Indo-Pacific as ranging “from the shores of Africa to the shores of the Americas”. The fact that we are, today, witnessing a unique geopolitical moment when several Asian powers - Indian, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and, the ten constituent States of ASEAN - are all rising simultaneously, provides added significance to the Act East Policy. China's rise to the status of a global power is no as peaceful as was once hoped, and its assertiveness is causing significant geopolitical turbulence. With China's resource-hungry economy needing resources of energy and minerals that are sourced either from countries of the Indian Ocean Region, or, which must necessarily traverse the Indian Ocean before they can reach China, the Indian Ocean has been catapulted to the centre of geopolitical machinations by regional and extra-regional powers. India's Act East Policy is not China centric. It is, however, most certainly Indiacentric, but is founded upon a geoeconomic formulation that places primacy upon inclusiveness and constructive engagement.

By what time the will the Indian Navy acquire the capabilities of a 'Blue Water Navy”?

I am always astonished to note the persistence of this question. My dismay having been recorded, let me try and afford you and your readers a little clarity. For the most part, three colours have been used to colloquially describe and differentiate between maritime spaces (collectively called 'waters') as a function of their distance from one's own land-territory. These are 'Brown Waters', 'Green Waters', and, 'Blue Waters' and these are often used (albeit equally colloquially) to categorise the world's navies.It is generally conceded that the term 'Brown Waters' was first popularised (if not coined) in the USA and generally described waters of navigable bays, rivers and estuaries — all of which were characterised by a source (whether coastal or riverine) of soil run-off from the land into the sea. Thus, 'Brown-Water Navies' are those that are competent and capable of being deployed in 'brown waters', but cannot really operate at any significant distances from the coast for any significant periods of time.

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Exclusive Interview The NMF is one of the major think tanks of the maritime sector. How do you think it will contribute to the maritime thought process in shaping our policies towards becoming a stronger maritime power in the Indian Ocean region?

As I have stated in my response to an earlier question of yours, the NMF is India's SOLE think-tank that concentrates unwaveringly upon the entire gamut of activities that make up India's maritime domain. As such, it demonstrates effervescence and vigour along all four trajectories along which any serious think-tank should be visible: (1) Research, founded upon the highest standard of academic rigour; (2) Advocacy, through publications and also through personalised interaction and outreach endeavours both upwards into the policy-plane as well as sideways and downwards to academic institutions such as schools, colleges, universities, other think-tanks, and, the public at large; (3) Convening, thereby providing platforms upon which individuals and institutions that might otherwise have had a hard time engaging one another can meet and exchange perspectives and bestpractices; and through the conferences, symposia; and, Action, in terms of initiating and supporting maritime research and development within industry and within intensely-professional structures such as those dealing with Underwater Domain Awareness.

What is your position on the Central Government's emphasis on self-reliance, and indigenisation in the defence sector? How do you think we will be able to overcome the issue of comparative advantage?

The NMF as an institution and I as an individual areunited in our unfettered advocacy and support for an Indian defence sector that is characterised by self-reliance and indigenisation. There is, particularly amongst the lay public, a fair degree of confusion between the terms 'Make-in-India' and 'Indigenisation'. The fact is that the former encourages largely-foreign major manufacturingcompanies to set-up manufacturing-units in India whether for consumption by the Indian market itself or for export from India to markets in other countries. As such, its principal aims are job-creation, skill-development, and the transfer and absorption of cutting-edge manufacturingtechnology and management-techniques.

'Indigenisation', on the other hand, is, perhaps, better described by the less ubiquitous slogan, 'Make-by-India'.

In other words, 'indigenisation' involves Indian industry manufacturing products and processes that would otherwise have had to be imported by India. The NMF works very closely (although not exclusively) with the Indian Navy and is proud of the fact that the Indian Navy's indigenisation drive - launched in the 1960s - has, over time, matured into a success story worthy of both praise and emulation. The fact that the Indian Navy's 'DirectorateGeneral of Naval Design' (DGND) has generated as many

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as 19 different warship-designs, leading to the construction of a staggering 119 surface and sub-surface combat-platforms (i.e., 'warships' and 'submarines') in Indian shipbuilding yards is, by any standard, a trackrecord of which to be proud. At the level of implementation, too, India can be very proud of the its successes by way of the indigenous development, production and deployment of a whole slew of systems and sub-systems that go into the 'float', 'move', 'fight' and 'survive' capabilities of modern naval combatants.

Amongst others, these incorporate surface and subsurface propulsion systems, power-generation systems, and, state-of-the-art weapon-sensor suites — all of which, taken in aggregate, have made the Navy's ships, submarines and aircraft, both admired and respected.

The Navy's success has motivated its two sister Services, the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force, to follow a similar path and today, the entire defence sector is gradually shaking off the shackles of import-dependence. For instance, the artillery pieces being produced by Indian companies such as L&T, Tata Advanced Systems, Bharat Forge, etc., are world-beaters in every respect, much to the astonishment of several Western powers, but much to the delight of all right-minded Indians. The NMF is committed to support this process and is undertaking industry-relevant studies that will accelerate the indigenisation endeavour. Coming to your question about comparative advantage, I want to state, quite unequivocally, that it is a major mistake to think that we lack comparative advantage in defence manufacturing. Let me give you an example of naval submarine warfare and antisubmarine warfare. Both these forms of combat utilise the propagation and reception of sound waves (rather than electro-magnetic ones) because sound travels farthest in the underwater medium. So far, so good. Now we come to the question of the area in which these submarine operations or ant-submarine ones are intended to be progressed. The hydrological conditions of the tropical warm waters of the northern Indian Ocean offer a very different sonar-environment from that of the cold, temperate waters that define much of the USA, Russia and Western Europe. Our own indigenously produced sonar suites, such as the APSOH, HUMSA NG and USHUS family of sonars, work far better in our waters than do western ones, which have been optimised for their conditions. It is true that global navies such as that of the USA operate in a large number of oceanic spaces.

However, that does not mean that they enjoy comparative advantage in all of them. When we invest (wisely) our manpower, our skills and our scholarship in specific areas, we have a marked comparative advantage over others.

There is certainly a need to encourage far greater synergy between the uniformed and civilian segments of the Ministry of Defence. This is a role that the NMF seeks to adopt for itself.

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Exclusive Interview forces that is deployed either exclusively or principally within riverine environments or for close-coast operations.

In such a case, the platforms are often collectively known as 'Brown-Water Combatants', even though they may well be only one of many components of a 'Blue-Water Navy' — and not a 'Brown-Water' one. Importantly, the term per se offers no indicator whatsoever of the offensive or defensive fire-power of the navy (or segment of the navy) concerned. A very large number of 'Brown Water' military maritime forces — whether entire 'navies' or segments of these — have substantial (i.e., ample) and substantive (i.e., meaningful) offensive and defensive firepower (along with associated surveillance-chains) in multiple dimensions — surface, sub-surface, air and cyber-space — and some even extend these capabilities to spacebased surveillance! The term 'Green Waters', which was, once again, coined in the USA, is an even more colloquial, recent, and, non-specific expression. Its contemporary usage is to describe the sea areas that extend seawards from the shore of a coastal nation-state up to the outer limit of its extended Exclusive Economic Zone (i.e., a maximum width of 350 nm from the promulgated baselines of the coastal State). 'Green-Water Navies' are those that can project power locally, but cannot sustain operations at long ranges. The expression 'Blue Waters'denotes waters lie at distances in excess of the outer limits of the extended 'Exclusive Economic Zone' (i.e., at distances exceeding 350 nm from the promulgated baselines of a coastal State.) However, 'distance' can hardly be the sole criteria, because it is entirely possible for the 'waters' found at this distance from one coastal State to be so close to another coastal State as to themselves constitute 'Brown Waters'!

So, there is a facet of 'depth' that needs to be additionally factored. This leads to the delightfully vague description wherein the 'deep waters of distant oceans' constitute 'Blue Waters'! When considering 'Blue-Water Navies', a third criterion that must be added to 'distance' and 'depth' — that is 'duration of time'. It is this 'temporal' consideration, added to the spatial ones of 'distance' and 'depth' that allows one or another of the world's navies to colloquially describe itself (or be classified by others) as a 'Blue-Water Navy'. Thus, a 'Blue-Water Navy' is one that can sustain its required (or 'desired') maritime operations in distant, deep waters, without continuous logisticsupport or resources from other nation-States. Centred upon the Carrier Battle Group (CBG) and supported by between four and nine underway-replenishment-cumFleet-Support ships, the Indian Navy already fields a bluewater capability that is well in excess of many erstwhile global maritime powers such as the British Royal Navy. Its contemporary and future aircraft carriers (the Vikramaditya and the future-Vikrant) displace some 45,000 tonnes and, with their complement of MiG 29K aircraft (to be joined by the naval LCA) are considerably larger and more capable than the ones deployed by India

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thus far. The aircraft carriers currently in the pipeline are even larger — of the order of 65,000 displacement-tonnes.

A formidable mix of state-of-the-art guided-missile destroyers (of the Ranvijay Class the Delhi Class, the Kolkata Class, and the Visakhapatnam Class) and guidedmissile frigates (of the Shivalik Class, the Teg Class, the Talwar Class, and the Brahmaputra Class) — all equipped with the latest versions of the BrahMos and the Barak family of missiles and carrying multi-role helicopters — along with nuclear-propelled submarines such as the Chakra Class SSNs, make each CBG a formidable, synergistic and mutually-supporting conglomerate of warships centred upon an aircraft carrier. The adjective 'synergistic' is particularly apt because the combatcapability of a CBG as a whole is almost always greater than the sum of its parts. The deployment-pattern of the Indian Navy over the past two decades offers eloquent testimony to its 'Blue-Water' capability. So, the short answer to your somewhat odd question is that the Indian Navy is already a truly 'Blue-Water navy and has been an established one at least ever since the tsunami of 2004.

You have been keen on modernising the Indian Navy.

Where do you see the future of Indian Navy in relation to the world naval powers?

As President Theodore Roosevelt of the USA said in 1902, “A good Navy is not a provocation to war. It is the surest guaranty of peace.”The Indian Navy is most certainly the foremost navy of the Indian Ocean Region. It produces state-of-the-art warships and submarines and will soon augment its formidable shore-based naval surveillance and ASW capability with requisite numbers of ultramodern multirole rotary-wing aircraft deployed aboard Indian Naval warships. Where it lags the world's top navies, if at all, is in overall tonnage by way of a summation of the number of ships being fielded. This is a function of a largely-inept bureaucracy and the low productivity and efficiency of Indian warship building yards. These are areas upon which the Government of India must lay its sharpest focus. Likewise, we cannot build the required numbers of highly advanced warships, submarines and naval aircraft without an exceptionally skilled and capable workforce. That is why the Indian Navy has been laying so

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Exclusive Interview much importance to training and technical education of its manpower. It needs and deserves the support of the government and these are all areas upon which the Government of India needs to place and retain the sharpest focus.

You write extensively on the strategic issues of import for national defence. China is flexing muscles in the naval domain. In your opinion, which country is a bigger threat to India's territorial integrity — China or Pakistan?

Our greatest military challenge is the nexus between China and Pakistan. In the run up to any outbreak of armed conflict involving India, this could manifest itself as either Sino-Pakistani collaboration or collusion or both. Insofar as territorial integrity is concerned, I would peg Pakistan as a greater threat and a far more immediate and persistent one. If China does get aggressive on the trans-Himalayan border, I'm afraid that Beijing is in for an unpleasant surprise. If this translates into the maritime domain, my money is quite firmly on the Indian Navy!

Would you like to give a message to our readers out there?

This is the century of the seas. Of matters maritime. Over the next one hundred years or so, India will either succeed in its quest to provide for the economic, material and societal wellbeing of the people of India, or it will fail. The determinant will be the skill, dexterity, and adeptness with which we are able to play the maritime gain. To play the great geopolitical game with the requisite expertise and competence, we cannot manage with just a small number of needles-of-excellence upon which we seek to rest the broad mass of India. We need expertise across the board.

In sum, we need a 'maritime India'. This needs the kindling of interest in matters maritime at the school level onwards.

We must nurture scholarship of the highest form. The NMF is well poised to be a game-changing catalyst, but it cannot simultaneously be both, the catalyst and the 'chemical' reaction. The reaction must be India's, not the NMF's alone. That means each of you who will read these words.

Come join us in our quest to recreate a great maritime nation.

Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan (Retd) AVSM & Bar, VSM, Director General of National Maritime Foundation (NMF) and he was appointed as the first Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Foreign Cooperation and Intelligence). www.seaandcoast.in

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Exclusive Interview

Heike Deggim Director, Maritime Safety Division at International Maritime Organization

Chesta Mishra Managing Editor

How would you describe the main role of the Maritime Safety Committee?

Since joining IMO in 1993 how has your journey with IMO been?

The Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) is IMO's senior technical body on all matters related to maritime safety and security, promulgating rules and regulations addressing a wide variety of subjects. This includes issues like ship design, construction and equipment, ship stability and subdivision, fire protection, life-saving appliances, navigation, radio communications, search and rescue, carriage of cargoes and containers, piracy, cyber security, the human element, training and watchkeeping. It is also involved with the implementation of IMO instruments under its auspices.

I graduated in 1983 with a master's degree in marine engineering from Rostock University in my home country of Germany. When I joined IMO in 1993, I had behind me several years of experience working in the naval shipbuilding industry and later as Senior Researcher at the Shipbuilding Faculty of Rostock University, resulting in a PhD in fishing technology, followed by various positions in the German Maritime Administration dealing, among other things, with tonnage measurement of ships and issuing of Tonnage Certificates.

The MSC is the custodian of the instruments developed to address the above issues, such as the SOLAS Convention and related Codes, the Load Line and Tonnage Measurement Conventions, the Collision Regulations and the STCW Convention, to name just a few of the most important. As the regulatory body, the Committee deals with issues proposed by our Member States, of which there are currently 174.

The Maritime Safety Division in the IMO Secretariat supports the work of the Committee and undertakes all Secretariat functions assigned to it. As the Director of the Division I also fulfill the function of Secretary of the Committee.

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One of my first assignments in IMO was acting as the Secretary of the Sub-Committee on Flag State Implementation and later the Sub-Committee on Ship Design and Equipment, before being appointed as Head of Marine Technology, with overall responsibility for the technical sub-committees dealing with ship design and equipment; stability, load lines and fishing vessels safety; and fire protection; as well as later taking a leading role in the development and implementation of the goal-based ship construction standards for bulk carriers and oil tankers and the associated verification scheme.

I then worked for several years in the position of Senior Deputy Director in IMO's Marine Environment Division, dealing with matters related to MARPOL, air pollution and

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Exclusive Interview energy efficiency of ships, reduction of GHG emissions ballast water management, ship recycling, anti-fouling and biofouling, evaluation of chemicals; as well as being majorly involved with the running of the Marine Environment Protection Committee and the Sub-Committee on Pollution Prevention and Response. In January 2018 I was promoted to my current position of Director of the Maritime Safety Division.

Keeping in view recent incidents involving misdeclaration of cargo leading to fire and structural damage to vessels. Have you thought about a policy to deter such cases in future?

We always look in detail at the recommendations arising from investigations of marine casualties and the issue of mis-declaration of cargoes has been one of the focus items of the Committee over the last few years.

The IMO body dealing with these matters is the SubCommittee on Carriage of Cargoes and Containers (CCC) which deals with cargo operations, including packaged dangerous goods; solid bulk cargoes; bulk gas cargoes; containers and the evaluation of related safety and pollution hazards; as well as the survey and certification of ships carrying hazardous cargoes.

The CCC Sub-Committee meets annually and aims to ensure the further enhancement of the safety and security culture and environmental consciousness in all cargo and container operations. For this purpose, it cooperates with other relevant UN bodies, IGOs and NGOs on the development and implementation of related international standards.

With IMO's 2020 regulation regarding SOx and NOx emissions, the vessels which don't comply have to go out of business, Due to imbalance in vessel supply and demand sea-borne trade will be impacted due to high freight costs. What is your opinion on this?

It is important to remember that the sulphur limit for fuel oil used on board ships coming into force on 1 January 2020 is aimed at making the air we breathe cleaner. Air pollution is a huge problem, particularly for the health of people living in coastal areas and near ports. We all have to do our bit to limit air pollution.

Of course, changes in regulations can involve costs – costs which ultimately have to be shared by everyone, including consumers. Shipowners need to prepare for the new limit of 0.50% for sulphur in fuel oil. It needs to be kept in mind that the original MARPOL regulation limiting the sulphur content of fuel oil was adopted in 2008, giving owners and operators a substantial period of time to adjust to the new requirements.

Any technical issues resulting form the use of low-sulphur fuel oil will be addressed by the Maritime Safety Committee, which for that purpose included a dedicated item on the matter in its agenda for its forthcoming 101st meeting in June of this year.

Of special importance in this regard are the International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) and the International Maritime Solid Bulk Cargoes (IMSBC) Codes. Their proper implementation will go a long way to address incidents with all kinds of cargoes, as well as containers, transported on ships. For this reason, they are regularly reviewed, revised and amended, taking into account latest developments as well as lessons learned from casualties.

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Exclusive Interview IMO and other maritime bodies from time to time have introduced various regulations. Do you feel that industry is overwhelmed with rules and regulations?

million metric tons and 99.99% of this arrived safely at its destination.

Regulation is necessary. Without global universal standards there would be chaos, with different regional or national rules applying in different parts of the world. This certainly would cause enormous problems for international trade and it is obvious that for a global business like shipping international standards are a must.

When IMO looks at proposals for new regulations, the potential administrative burden for IMO Member States and the shipping industry is taken into consideration.

It is obvious from the statistics that the work done to date, such as the adoption of double hull requirements for tankers in the 1990s, has been instrumental in reducing oil spills.

Having said that, during the last few years, the emphasis has indeed shifted towards implementation of existing regulations, rather than the development of new ones.

IMO's Technical Cooperation Division administers the IMO Integrated Technical Cooperation Programme (ITCP), which is designed to assist Governments which lack the technical knowledge and resources that are needed to operate a shipping industry safely and efficiently.

Furthermore, the goal-based ship construction standards for bulk carriers and oil tankers adopted in 2010 as mandatory requirements under the SOLAS Convention, ensure that any new oil tanker is built to satisfy applicable structural requirements, taking into account the goals prescribed by the standards. Essentially, goal-based standards permit innovative designs but, at the same time, ensure that ships are constructed in such a manner that, if properly maintained, they remain safe for their entire economic life.

I don't have a crystal ball to say what future innovative designs might look like, but I am confident that with the goal-based standards in place we have a robust regulatory system which does allow for innovation, but at the same time ensures that the good record we now have on reducing oil pollution is maintained.

There was a recent research which has found that maritime paints may be cause of pollution. If this is true what are the steps ship yards should take to minimize the risk?

In particular, this is aimed at helping developing countries to improve their ability to comply with international rules and standards relating to maritime safety and the prevention and control of marine pollution, focusing on human resources development and institutional capacitybuilding.

You are a naval architect by qualification, what structural changes do you feel should happen to prevent oil pollution after a vessel collision?

Actually, my background is marine engineering, but over my working life I have of course dealt with a variety of ship design related issues.

I think you may be referring to the study on “Hull scrapings and marine coatings as a source of microplastics”, made possible through funding from the UN Environment-led Global Partnership for Marine Litter (GPML). This study is a literature review to assess current knowledge and data regarding marine coatings as microplastics sources and identifies important data gaps.

It makes suggestions for subsequent research into whether ship coatings are an important source of microplastics released into the oceans.

This matter has only been raised fairly recently and the study is saying that further research into this potential source of microplastics is needed. Given the fact that this is an issue very much in the public eye, I am sure that as soon as results are available the Member States will raise it at IMO so that relevant global regulations can be considered.

IMO has been working for more than 60 years on preventing oil pollution from ships, along with Member State and industry, including the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS).

Statistics compiled by the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Ltd (ITOPF), show a 90% reduction in the number of major oil spills and a hundred-fold reduction in the volume of oil spilt since the 1970s, highlighting the real, tangible benefit of governments and industry working together to reduce oil spills over the decades. In 2016, the total volume of crude oil transported by ship was 1,770

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Exclusive Interview The maritime stakeholders are looking for a global maritime policy to benchmarked and streamline maritime operations standards globally. What do you feel are the key aspects policy makers must keep in mind?

To my knowledge a global maritime policy does not exist.

The IMO Council regularly considers trends, developments and challenges facing the maritime sector and has agreed on strategic directions which could form the backbone of a global maritime policy. The current key aspects, set out as the strategic directions for IMO in its strategic plan, are the following; and I am of the view that this is also what policy makers should have foremost in their minds when considering national maritime policies: · Improve implementation (effective and globally uniform implementation of IMO instruments). · Integrate new technologies in the regulatory framework, balancing benefits against safety and security concerns. · Respond to climate change (i.e. take measures to address climate change issues). · Engage in ocean governance (to keep the oceans as clean as possible while ensuring the sustainable development of activities in the marine space). · Enhance global facilitation of international trade, balancing facilitation with safety, security and environmental concerns. · Ensure regulatory effectiveness by feeding back experience gained with the implementation of instruments in order to identify improvements and the need for new measures. · Ensure organizational effectiveness by enhancing working practices of national maritime authorities, including port authorities.

In the present scenario where technological advancement in vessel operations has brought about autonomous ships . How do you feel this will impact the morale of the seafarers and especially young seafarers just starting their career at sea ?

At the moment, there are only a few autonomous ships in operation, mainly local ferries and small boats used for research purposes or for surveys. The prospect of large numbers of autonomous ships roaming the oceans is a long way off. I think for young seafarers, they can be sure that any skills they learn at sea will be useful in the future for various maritime-related jobs – perhaps even those related to autonomous ships. People will still be needed for ship operation.

At IMO, we have begun a regulatory scoping exercise to look into how maritime autonomous surface ships (MASS) should be regulated. This exercise is assessing various IMO instruments to see how they may apply to ships with varying degrees of autonomy. Once the assessment is completed, the second step will be conducted, i.e. analyzing and determining the most appropriate way of addressing MASS operations, taking into account, inter alia, the human element, technology and operational factors.

Today, more than ever, seafaring is a job that demands

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highly trained and qualified personnel. Modern ships are designed and built to the highest technical standards. The emphasis must, therefore, increasingly be on ensuring that standards of manning and operation are equally high.

Concerns have been raised about how the work on MASS may affect the work of seafarers in the future. When we look further at possible regulation of autonomous ships, this will of course be carefully considered. But it is also obvious that any changes in an industry may lead to job function changes and changes in the skills required. This is something that training institutions and the shipping industry will need to look at and be aware of.

The technologies like 3 D printers have augmented the design industry , do you feel that the same technology can be used in shipbuilding to bring out safe and innovative designs ?

New technologies are being developed at an ever-faster pace and this is of course also true for the shipping industry. An important driving factor is the curren ongoing work to address ships' emissions.

Regarding the use of 3D printers in ship design and construction, I am not aware that this is currently taking place at a larger scale, although I know that there are a few cases where the technology has been used successfully.

In particular this concerns the manufacture of spare and other metallic parts or components. Lloyd's Register has developed Guidance Notes for Additive Manufacturing of Metallic Parts, and ISO and IEC have published various standards addressing additive manufacturing (AM), as 3D printing is also known.

In my view, the advantages are obvious, just think of how useful it would be to be able to produce spare parts directly on board, especially if you are in the middle of the ocean, far away from any repair facilities. While the matter is currently at an early stage of development and issues like quality assurance of any parts so produced certainly need addressing, I would assume that we will hear much more about 3D printing in shipping in the near future.

In the past you have been part of Flag of state implementation Sub-Committee, Flag of convenience is still a issue as the standards of manning and surveys is not maintained my many open registries.

What is your opinion in this regard?

The Sub-Committee on Flag State Implementation (FSI) was established and first met in 1992. Today the work has been subsumed into the Sub-Committee on Implementation of IMO Instruments (III).

The III Sub-Committee brings together flag, port and coastal States to consider implementation issues, including the analysis of consolidated audit summary reports resulting from the mandatory IMO Member State Audit Scheme. The Sub-Committee has a key role in casualty analysis and issuing lessons learned from marine incidents. It receives and analyses port State control data and keeps under review the Procedures for Port State Control. Guidelines for survey and certification, including the Survey Guidelines under the Harmonized System of Survey and Certification (HSSC), also come under the remit of this Sub-Committee.

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Exclusive Interview Here in IMO we do not use the term “flags of convenience”.

Some registries operate as what you might call “open registries” and some operate as “national registries” with differing tax and other obligations for companies, nationality of crew and so on. The applicable standards for ship safety, operation and pollution prevention are the same globally, regardless of flag, and they all use the IMO regulations and requirements as minimum standards. Of course, the quality of registries can differ enormously, but this is not along the fault lines of “open” versus “national” registries.

In such cases these surveys can be potentially quite dangerous for the surveyors. However, the matter of remote surveys has not (yet) been discussed here in IMO and we would need some feedback on their use. The current Code on the enhanced programme of inspections during surveys of bulk carriers and oil tankers, the ESP Code, does not contain provisions for remote surveys.

However, IACS has already informed us that they are working on requirements for surveys using drones, so I would expect that this matter will be brought to the MSC for consideration sooner rather than later.

Many of the open registries deliver quality oversight of the ships under their flag and care very much about their reputation which, in my view, makes perfect business sense; especially if you want to attract quality ships to your register.

However, I am also sure that for certain mandatory surveys, the skilled eye of a trained surveyor in situ will still be needed for a long time yet. Ultimately it will be up to IMO Member States to decide in the future if they wish to change the current requirements.

DNV GL has launched remote survey of all the vessels , how do you perceive the development ,will it be as effective as personal survey by a surveyor when it comes to maintenance of a sea worthy vessel ?

I think the use of drones, which I assume is what you are referring to, will certainly facilitate a number of surveys.

Just think of big cargo holds where often scaffolding is needed to enable surveyors to properly carry out their duties or confined spaces such as double bottoms.

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Exclusive Interview

Sanjay Bhatia (IAS) Chairman, Mumbai Port Trust

You have been practicing meditation for 17 years and have also initiated a meditation program for the employees of Mumbai port trust, would you like to put some light on it and its impact on their lives?

Yes, I have been practicing heart fullness meditation for more than seventeen years. The meditation changed my life and brought balance, humility& creativity in my life. I believe that 'Meditation' is the best change management tool for any organization. I had introduced meditation in CIDCO in my earlier tenure as VC&MD, CIDCO and I had found that it helped in improving integrity and building trust and team work in the organization.In Mumbai Port also meditation has been introduced during the lunch break in the Port Office, Port compounded area, Port's Training Centre and Port's residential colony. I am seeing an organization culture change happing with this introduction. Employees are more motivated, more loyal to the organization and developing less stress.

You have given Mumbai Port Trust a direction to shift its focus from core activities to other domain. Can you elaborate on this?

Mumbai Port is the second oldest Port of the country. As the Port activities had expanded. Mumbai City was set up through reclamation at the Islands. Mumbai Port has continued to be a premier Port of the country providing large scale employment and income generation through trading and allied activities. Even today Mumbai is the fifth largest Major Port of the country with a revenue generation of Rs.1600 crores giving direct employment to ten thousand employees and indirect employment to about one lakh persons and pension to forty thousand retired employees. Along with handling around 60 MT of cargo.

MbPT has also now jointly with JNPT taken up a Project to decongest Thane & Mumbai roads, by shifting the container traffic of JNPT required for the island city of Mumbai to the sea route of JNPT to Mumbai Port. Mumbai Port is also providing the necessary godown spaces for

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this decongestion to succeed. With this diversion of cargo from roads to sea route, 1000 trucks and trailers will get removed from Mumbai roads resulting in decongestion of Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai roads. Mumbai Port is now re-visioning itself on the lines of Major International Ports where metropolitan cities have developed around the port e.g. London Dock Yard, Barcelona, Bussan, Rotterdam, Miami etc. Wherever metropolitan cities have come-up the Ports started shifting towards cruise, water transport and water front tourism related activities. On the same lines, Mumbai Port is now along with handling cargo, re-visioning itselt as sea tourism and sea transport hub of the country. Thus the Port's commercial (warehousing) areas which have got freed because of stopping of coal handling and shipbreaking are now planned to be shifted towards sea transport, sea tourism, gardens for the city and some employment generating commercial activities to get revenue for the Port. These tourism activities are envisioned to bring a major fillip to employment opportunity and economic value addition in this part of the city. Through Sea Tourism Mumbai Port Trust has begun planning for these activities in right earnest and results are showing up. For example, in the year 2017-18 only 45 Cruise ships berthed in the port but in the year 2018-19 the number rose to 98 and in the year 2019-20 it would grow to 256. We got two floating restaurants in the harbor.

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Exclusive Interview Marina and Ro-Pax ships are at bidding stage.

Construction of International Cruise Terminal is underway.

This is new business vertical for Mumbai Port, which eventually other city based ports will also have to include with cargo business, in separately earmarked areas.

What do you think will be the role of tourism and other associated sectors in the ocean economy?

The huge middle class is the aspiring class for cruise experience. Annually about 200,000 Indians are taking cruises abroad. 10 times of this number, is the next level middle class aspiring tourists. They are waiting to get a cruising experience in their own country without spending additional overseas tour costs. There is an explosion waiting to happen in this segment. New business entities have sprung up in cruise tourism which was hitherto a privilege of the foreign companies. Jalesh Cruises and before that Angriya Cruises, have literally set fire on the ocean economy. As I said, this is just the beginning and the Ministry and Mumbai Port Trust, have set its goal to achieve 1000 ship calls and One Million passengers per annum in 5 years and 2000 ship calls and Three Million passengers per annum in 10 years. Likewise, other segments of tourism business like Marina, Floating Restaurants, Fast Ferries, Ro-Pax service are set to contribute significantly in development of ocean economy.

MPT has extensive plans to revamp the city to promote tourism through different projects. Would you like to elaborate on the key features of these plans and development & infrastructure projects?

The key infrastructure projects undertaken by the Port to promote Sea tourism are as follows: 1.Construction of an iconic International Cruise Terminal (ICT): An ICT having area of 4.15 Lakh Sq. Ft. (Ground + 3 upper floors) is under construction at Ballard Pier Extension (BPX). The Ground & First floor will be used for operating International Cruise Terminal. Second & Third Floors will be for commercial activities with shopping malls. This will be a pride of Mumbai. The Civil & façade work is amounting to Rs. 270 Crores and is in progress.

The terminal will be ready by December, 2019.

The upgraded infrastructure of Mumbai International Cruise Terminal will promote Cruise tourism with expected 500 nos. of Cruise calls every year having capacity of 5000 passengers per vessel. Cruise Vessel 'Karnika' of 'Jalesh' has already commenced operation from BPX berth in April, 2019.

2.Renovation of Sr. Dock Master's building into Domestic Cruise Terminal (DCT); and Operation of Mumbai-Goa Cruise Service from the DCT at Victoria Dock. MbPT has made a state of the art DCT in an area of 6680 Sq. Mtrs. at a cost of Rs.9 Cr. to cater to domestic cruise ships in Indian Waters. The facility is ready. Cruise Vessel “Angriya” has already started operating between Mumbai and Mormugao from the DCT. The Operations & Maintenance Contract has been recently awarded to M/s.

Sukhsagar Hospitality services Pvt. Ltd. They are going to s p e n t R s . 5 C r. f o r O & M o p e r a t i o n s i n i t i a l l y.

Implementation of this project has made the surrounding area of New Ferry Wharf more vibrant for the city.

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3.Construction of Ro Pax Terminal at New Ferry Wharf. A Ro Pax terminal with a capacity of 120 Cars and 18 buses/trucks is completed at Ferry Wharf at a cost of Rs.32 Cr. with Ro Pax service between Mumbai and Mandwa passengers will be able to take their vehicles in the vessel and save considerable time in wading through the circuitous road from South Mumbai to Goa. This will save at least three hours of commuting time for the passengers wanting to go to Goa from Mumbai by Road.

Besides saving of time & cost, it will also result in saving the environment.

4.Construction of Marina for 300 yachts at Prince's Dock - Work of building a state of the art marina has been taken up to provide facilities for yachts and pleasure crafts.

The project will involve construction of floating pontoons for yachts, their fuelling & repair facility, the flea market, waterfront club and the iconic Hotel. The DPR is finalized and the work will be awarded shortly.

5.Development of Ecological and Cultural Park at Sewree: An ECO park is planned on 10 acres of land in front of Flamingo habitation, including Mangrove trail made up of bamboo/wooden slippers, viewing gallery, sit out areas, Nature Interpretation Center and museum etc.

The project is expected to give impetus to Ecotourism in the city. This ECO park will be first of its kind and of particular interest to Educational institutions, Ornithologist, Wildlife photographers, trekkers, Researchers and Tourists (domestic and international) etc. The DPR is prepared by the Consultants and the work is likely to start.

6.Development of KanhojiAngre Island as a tourist destination. The island is situated at mid-sea off Thal (4.5 km) near Alibagh. The island will be having gazebos, watersports, trekking and adventure activities. The work is in progress.

7.Waterfront development at Prince's Dock. A one kilometer waterfront tourism hub at Prince's Dock near DCT is being developed by constructing amphi-theatre, skating rink, Seaside restaurant, fountain, etc. The civil work is in progress. The waterfront development will add an additional tourist spot near new Ferry Wharf, which will be accessible to public with redefining of custom notified area of the Port.

You have been very keen on environmental issues.

The MbPT has introduced several plans under your guidance to reduce the carbon emission of the city/ Can you put more light on it for our readers about your efforts on environmentalism?

Various activities undertaken by the Port to improve environment and reduce Carbon mission can be classified into following six areas.

(1) Solid Waste Management Under Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 Solid Waste generated is segregated into three categories Green Bins: Wet Waste / Organic Waste, Blue Bins: Dry Waste/

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Exclusive Interview Inorganic Waste, Black Bins: Domestic Hazardous Waste. Awareness programmes on segregation of solid waste are in progress. Posters and Pamphlets have been Published and Distributed in MbPT Area Expression of Interest (EoI) for “Solid Waste Collection, Segregation, Transportation, Treatment, and Disposal is invited for Solid Waste generated in Mumbai Port Trust area.

Technical Bids have been opened and scrutiny is in the process.

buildings of MbPT for installing additional 447 kWp. Besides this following Sagarmala projects, which are under implementation will also aid to reduce Carbon Emission in the region – Sr. Project No. 1

(2) Hazardous Waste Management Port has empanelled the MPCB approved firms for collection of sludge oil/Waste oil/Bilge/Slops from the vessels calling at Mumbai Port and has disposed 5646 MT of sludge oil this year.

(3) E Waste Management Under the E- Waste Management Rules, 2016, Mumbai Port Trust has imposed restrictions on dropping of e-waste in dust bins.

Special places are identified for collection and storage of e-waste. MbPT has adopted a buy-back Policy. Disposal of e-waste is carried out through MPCB registered recyclers and processors.The Port maintains uptodate record for e-waste in Form – 2 of the e-waste (Management) Rules, 2016 and has Disposed off 14.28 MT of E waste during 2017-18.

(4) Construction and Demolition Waste Management As per the Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules, 2016, Construction & Demolition Waste – Building material, Debris and rubble from Construction, Repair and demolition is not mixed with other solid waste but stored and disposed separately.

Disposal system for this category of waste is taken care of in the tender clauses for each project. The waste is handed over to authorised processing facility.

(5) Sewage Treatment Under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Rules, 1975 & Environmental Protection Act & Rules 1986, Sewage from Port colony is treated at 250 CMD capacity STP at Colaba Colony and Treated Sewage water is reused for botanical garden.

Tenders are also invited for setting up 3 MLD STP in Wadala. Technical Scrutiny of Bids is in Process.Treated Sewage water from this plant is proposed to be reused for Industrial Operations.

(6) Solar Energy MbPT has already installed rooftop solar plant of 50 kWp and 75 kWp on NirmanBhavan and Bhandar Bhavan buildings at Mazgaon. SECI has floated a tender for 1000 MW of solar roof top capacity in Government of India buildings, which includes ten office

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Total Current Status Cost Crore JNPT160 Under Mumbai Port Tendering Barge- Ship Operations to Reduce City Congestion and Create Value for Trade

Expected Date of Award 25 Oct 2019

Expected Remark Date of Completion Project period is 20 years.

Directly reduce vehicular emission, thus reduce carbon emission

2

Ship Repair 80 Operations and Management of Ship Repair Facility at 7 Indira Dock, MbPT

Under Implementation

April 2021

Ship Repairs helps in smoothening of sailing and less chance of marine pollution

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Development 5 of Ecological and Cultural Park at Sewree

Under Implementation

31 Jan 2020

Carbon sequestration and awareness about Marine Ecology

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Dedicated goods line between Wadala and Kurla for freight movement from MbPT

Under Implementation

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Will help in reducing carbon emission

The MbPT is the biggest landowner of the city and recently took steps for redevelopment of its land.

Would you like to shed some light on these steps?

MbPT has nearly 840 Ha. of land along the Eastern Waterfront of Mumbai from Colaba to Wadala. MbPT has been appointed as Special Planning Authority for an area of 966.30 Ha. MbPT is proposing redevelopment in the area between Cotton Green, Haji Bunder and Hay Bunder :- Nearly 282 Ha. of land have been identified for development of waterfront tourism, recreational parts, Port allied activities, Government staff quarters and offices & part of the area for commercial development. A large park of 143 Ha is proposed which will act as lung space for Mumbai. Plans are also being prepared for

redevelopment of Darukhana area which presently is devoid of any proper infrastructure facili es.

The activists have been claiming these projects can lead up to some serious environmental damages.

How do you plan to proceed further?

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Exclusive Interview The proposed development will be environment friendly.

All the smart infrastructure will ensure recycling of waste water, recycling of solid waste, water conservation, energy saving etc. The projects will be implemented with the approval of the Environment Department wherever required. MbPT has already planned an Eco-Park on the existing mangroves at Sewree on an area of 10 acres. The Park will provide an opportunity to educate the residents about the importance of the mangroves and also act as viewing gallery for flamingos. The waterfront will be developed with promenades, jogging parks and bicycle tracks. The city will be walkable and bicycle friendly. The reclamation proposal has been already cleared by the CWPRS without any adverse effect of siltation and water flow. However, it will be implemented only after the clearance from Environment Department. Considering the above, the effect on Environment should be on positive side.

There was news about 10.6% wage hike agreement signed between management and the union of workers. This agreement will cost the government Rs.560 Crore per year. Would you like to tell us more about it?

A Settlement dated 30.08.2018 on wage revision of ClassIII & IV employees of Major Ports has been signed under Section 12 ( 3 ) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 before the Chief Labour Commissioner (Central ) with Labour federation. This settlement is effective from 01.1.2017 for a period of five years upto 31.12.2021. The wage revision was as such due from 1.1.2017 and was felt necessary for running the Port smoothly and efficiently. Additional expenditure on account of wage revision of employees is fully borne by the respective ports. In Mumbai Port the approximate hike due to the said Settlement for existing MbPT employees is Rs. 164 crore per annum.

The Globalization has brought new security challenges before Industry. Can you tell us about the steps taken regarding this issue?

MbPTas also all Major Ports have their ISPS Plan which is rou nely put to test by mock drills, involving all security agencies as CISF, State Police, Coast Guard, Navy, etc, the technology is being u lized and an effec ve shield is in place by all these stakeholders. Con nuous training, reliable intelligence inputs, Robust check and upgrada on of technology in propor on to threat percep on, is being done to enhance security.

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Exclusive Column

India as a Challenge to China's Belt and Road Initiative

Capt. (Dr.) Gurpreet S Khurana, Indian Navy Former Executive Director, NMF

India as a Challenge to China's Belt and Road Initiative

T

he Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was announced

by Xi Jinping in 2013 and comprises both the land-based Silk Road Economic Belt (launched in August 2013) and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (introduced in September 2013). The initiative was showcased in a manner that was too appealing to be ignored by the countries of the Indian Ocean region. Many Indians also viewed BRI as highly promising for their country.

As a virtual “island state” constrained by landward geophysical barriers in the north, India is in dire need of developing its economic corridors and maritime transportation infrastructure. Projections indicate that by 2050, India will be the second-largest economy (in purchasing power parity terms), premised inter alia on the growth trends of merchandise trade. However, leading Indian economists point out that a large part of the

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country's export potential remains unrealized, mostly in its own neighborhood. The key reason for this loss of competitiveness is rising “trade costs,” mainly for maritime transportation, which are heightened by the lack of connectivity and port infrastructure. Therefore, even though the Indian government never endorsed BRI, a few Indian analysts (including this author) were of the view that the Chinese initiative was pregnant with geoeconomic opportunities for India, and, premised on the ongoing India-China rivalry, it may not be prudent for New Delhi to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Eventually, however, the official Indian position against BRI hardened to the extent that India was the one key country in the Indian Ocean region not represented at the major international Belt and Road Forum organized in Beijing in May 2017.

This essay aims to examine some mainstream Indian perspectives on BRI and analyze its likely adverse ramifications for India. Based on these findings, the essay considers how India should (and is likely to) tailor its foreign policy and national security responses to this Chinese initiative.

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Exclusive Column Mainstream Indian Perspectives on BRI Owing largely to the country's geographic location and disposition, India's national interests are closely intertwined with developments in the Indian Ocean region.

In this context, BRI is seen in New Delhi as China's endeavor to capitalize on the desires, vulnerabilities, and insecurities of regional countries.

Sri Lanka, for instance, sought BRI to bolster investment in its port-led economic development after the 2009 end to decades of internal conflict, but later became beset by debt. In

BRI with blue economy and sustainable development concepts. However, repackaging does not change the product. Pakistan's coal-based power plant project in Rahim Yar Khan, proposed to be built by China as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), is a noteworthy case in point. The project was eventually shelved in January 2019 at the insistence of the new Pakistani government. This reinforces the Indian view that China looks at the Indian Ocean countries primarily as a source of natural resources, an ancillary for its expanding industrial complex, and an export destination for high-end manufactured goods. In the worst case, BRI represents a new avatar of economic colonization by China.

December 2017, Sri Lanka was compelled to grant China a 99-year lease and 70% stake in the deepwater port at Hambantota. In Maldives, China played on the political

Rationale for India's Rejection of BRI

fissures and local fears of sea-level rise to involve Chinese companies in reclamation projects. Today, the country owes China $1.5 billion—about 30% of its GDP—in construction costs. In Malaysia, China's exorbitantly expensive Melaka Gateway port project was premised on Kuala Lumpur's geoeconomic rivalry with Singapore to host a major hub port in the Asia-Pacific. Pakistan, for its part, was much too willing to cede to China the transit corridor from Kashi to Gwadar in order to reduce its own strategic vulnerability vis-à-vis

militarily superior India and develop the Baluchistan Province. Pakistan owes China at least $10 billion in debt for the construction of Gwadar port and other projects.

Viewed in New Delhi, China's approach runs counter to India's vision for collective and inclusive economic development of the Indian Ocean region. India believes that it cannot attain prosperity for its citizens in isolation from the regional neighborhood.

BRI is also viewed in New Delhi as China's attempt to outsource its low-end “sunset” industries to initiative partners, letting them worry about the attendant issues of environmental pollution. To redress this issue, in June 2017, in the document “Vision for Maritime Cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative,” China attempted to link

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The objections to BRI that India has formally articulated include the fact that the proposed CPEC involves joint projects in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (which is claimed

by India), the lack of details regarding BRI projects, and the initiative's unilateral character that is devoid of a consultative process. This lack of transparency carries the risk of smaller countries being sucked into a crushing debt cycle, in addition to the potential for ecological destruction and the disruption of local communities.

That BRI overlooks India's “core concerns on sovereignty and territorial integrity” is often stated as the key reason for the country's rejection of the initiative. However, none of these articulations—individually or collectively—fully account for India's wariness.

The most critical factor is China's “Middle Kingdom” approach that is premised on an ancient notion of cultural superiority and seeks to subject the transactions among nation-states to a geopolitical hierarchy. Through such an approach, China aims to dominate its periphery through a tributary system, thereby potentially challenging India's traditional influence in the Indian Ocean region. Yin Gang has stated, “In China's view, India must be reminded that areas around Gwadar, Chittagong, Hambantota, and Sittwe are not within India's traditional sphere of influence.” India views the Chinese approach as undermining the regional balance of power and therefore challenging its geopolitical and national security interests.

The country does not want to become marginalized by a rival power in its own neighborhood.

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Exclusive Column It is thus important to understand the adverse security implications of BRI for India. For instance, the ChinaPakistan strategic partnership already limits New Delhi's strategic options to respond to Pakistan's prevailing strategy of supporting cross-border terrorism against India. China's technological assistance to help Pakistan develop sea-based tactical nuclear weapons to offset India's conventional military superiority to Pakistan exemplifies this.

The traditional Chinese military threat to India's national security is another important consideration. The disputed land border in the Himalayas has often led to military confrontations, with the most recent occurring in June 2017 on the Doklam Plateau and lasting for 73 days. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy's established presence in the Indian Ocean region could add a seaward dimension to the existential continental threat posed by China. India's naval power might no longer enjoy a favorable asymmetry in the region, and therefore India's conventional military deterrence against China to respond to a conflict across the disputed land border would be eroded substantially. For instance, given the naval superiority that India enjoys in the Indian Ocean today and its ability to interdict Chinese strategic shipments, China may think twice before resorting to a military escalation across the land border. However, as the PLA Navy acquires the ability for sea control in the Indian Ocean against opposing naval forces to secure China's BRI investments, India could lose the military leverage provided by its current option for horizontal escalation of an armed conflict to the sea. Even worse, India might need to prepare for the possibility of a two-front war involving China-Pakistan strategic collusion.

India's Response to BRI From the foregoing discussion, it is clear that India's response to BRI is likely to be premised on the assumption that the initiative's comprehensive success, in terms of China meeting its envisaged objectives, is not in India's interest. India's approach will be to seek the support of its strategic partners within and beyond the Indo-Pacific.

However, even without any such support, New Delhi would likely need to do whatever may be required to prevent its influence in the Indian Ocean from being displaced by China and to prohibit China's increasing naval footprint from blunting India's prevailing maritime military edge in the region. New Delhi would likely adopt necessary geopolitical countermeasures across the entire spectrum ranging from geoeconomics to military strategy.

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At the foreign-policy level, India may seek to ramp up its relevance and influence in the Indian Ocean region, and even beyond into the eastern parts of the Indo-Pacific, as enunciated in Prime Minster Narendra Modi's 2015 vision of Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR) in 2015. The vision stands for the dictum that “all boats rise with the rising tide” and, therefore, provides an optimized approach to encourage regional solidarity that contrasts positively with the “extractive” model proposed by BRI. However, the dictum that holds for China also holds for India: the package is not the product. Policymakers in New Delhi will need to flesh out SAGAR in terms of its functional strategy, which has not yet been done, and pursue its implementation.

ASIA AFRICA GROWTH CORRIDOR In particular, India and its partners will need to offer the regional countries alternative models for enhancing economic connectivity in the Indo-Pacific that are more attractive than BRI. The Asia-Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC) proposed by India and Japan was conceptualized with such an aim under the rubric of the contemporary Indo-Pacific concept, but it needs to be pursued more seriously by all potential partners. The AAGC is still in a nascent phase, though with enormous potential to challenge BRI. This author's discussion with officials—who prefer anonymity—indicates that the Japanese are disappointed with the slow pace of India's implementation of the AAGC. This is leading Tokyo to reconsider India's partnership in the corridor. While India itself lacks infrastructure and financial and technological capacities, and therefore looks to Japan for these to fructify the AAGC, the Indian government needs to do more to quell the perception that it is not serious about the initiative.

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Exclusive Column As an instrument of the nation's foreign policy, the Indian Navy bears a major responsibility to shape a geopolitical environment in the Indian Ocean region that is favorable to India. The recent reorientation of its operational philosophy to mission-based (forward) deployments is meant, inter alia, to address the changing operational environment brought about by BRI. This includes the need to keep watch over the maritime chokepoints that all vessels—commercial ships, warships, and submarines—must traverse for entry into the Indian Ocean. The intelligence collected by the naval deployments is fed into the Indian Maritime Operations Centre and shared with friendly countries through the Information Management and Analysis Centre.

time for the Indian Navy to revisit its rules of engagement in India's maritime zones.The current rules, for instance, do not take into account contingencies involving intelligence gathering by Chinese warships—particularly submarines.

Notwithstanding these new developments, the navy needs to work to shape the environment so as to avoid a conflict scenario.

This article is a revised version of the end first published in (Asia Policy) Volume ١٤, Number 2 (April 2019).

While India has been making concerted efforts to enhance the sustained reach of its naval forces through basing arrangements with regional countries such as Mauritius and Seychelles, the prevailing geopolitical environment and local sensitivities will continue to be major impediments. The sustenance of forward-deployed naval units will need to be enhanced through alternative measures that combine sea-based logistics with the existing logistics exchange agreements with major resident powers, including the United States and France.

The Indian Navy will also need to be well-prepared to discharge its role as a mechanism for insurance in a possible conflict scenario involving China. The navy will need to be capable of fulfilling this function both independently and in conjunction with major partners, such as members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue and from Europe, but without according undue visibility to the process. Such plans already exist—for both the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific—and capacity accretions are adding more options to the latter operational area. The government's approval in 2015 of plans to build six indigenous nuclear attack submarines capable of distant power projection is notable in this regard. It is also high

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Exclusive Column

O-7 CDR (ret.) Eyal Pinko Maritime Cyber and Security senior consultant Phd candidate for naval strategy

Force Buildup of the Egyptian Navy Background

T

he Egyptian navy is the largest in the Middle

East.It operates in two theaters: the

Mediterranean (the Northern Command)

and the Red Sea (the Southern Command). Serving in the Egyptian navy are about 18,000 officers and sailors with another 14,000 in the reserves.

At the beginning of 2017, the Egyptian navy was rated as the six strongest navy in the world.

The missions of the Egyptian navy are to protect the country's vital interests at sea, including the protection of shipping lanes, essential maritime infrastructures in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea (oil and gas rigs) and the Suez Canal, as well as warfare in the above-water and underwater domains against its adversaries. It is the responsibility of the Coast Guard to protect the ports against terror and prevent smuggling.

In recent years, Egypt has come to view the Red Sea as a strategic zone that is essential to its national security, with emphasis on Bab el MandebStrait, which is the main entrance to the Suez Canal and the oil wells within it. The Egyptian navy, which is implementing the Egypt's strategy, recently created a new and expanded headquarters for the Southern Command at the Safaga base and is reinforcing its forces there, including expansion of the naval commando force and the stationing of submarines, an aircraft carrier and other vessels.

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In its theater of operations, the Egyptian navy operates four Chinese Romeo-model submarines, 47 missile-carrying ships (frigates, corvettes and missile boats), eight anti-submarine ships, more than 20 mine sweepers and numerous auxiliary vessels. In addition, the Egyptian navy operates commando forces (at the Red Sea base and they possess a number of capabilities, including the operation of speedboats and diving vessels). In addition, it operates batteries of Italian-made Otomat missiles and Russian-make Styx missiles for protection of the coasts.

The Egyptian navy also operates a large number of aircraft, including 20 SH-2G helicopters, Super SeaSprite, Gazelle naval helicopters and F16 fighter aircraft, which are equipped with US-made Harpoon antiship missiles with a range of up to 120 kilometers.

The Egyptian navy cooperates with numerous navies and holds joint annual exercises with a large number of countries, including the US, Britain, Saudi Arabia, Greece, France, Italy and NATO. During these exercises, the Egyptian navy improves its operational capabilities and its fighting doctrine, while developing operational experience, learning and adopting Western military tactics for surface and submarine warfare.

Since 2011 and the removal of Mubarak from power, and with greater intensity since al Sisi came to power in 2013, Egypt has been carrying out a program to modernize the variousbranches of the Egyptian armed forces, which has involved acquisitions in the tens of billions of dollars. This process includes not only the purchase of new weapons but also significantly improved operational capabilities.

The major buildup of force is occurring in all branches of the armed forces, including the air force, the army, the special forces and the navy, but special emphasis has been placed on the airforce and the navy, as the strategic branches that can project power and operate in distant locations.

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Exclusive Column The force buildup of the Egyptian navy – highlights The militaryforce buildup in Egypt, with emphasis on the navy (and also the air force), is based on acquisitions from a number of sources, the main ones being the US, France, Russia, Germany and even China.

The US dominance in Egyptian acquisitions is a result of the American financial assistance, in the amount of $1.3 billion per year (since 1987).According to the report of the US Government Accountability Office, since 2006 US military assistance has amounted to about 80 percent of the cost of Egyptian arms acquisitions. The 2013 report of the research service of the Congress states that US military support is estimated at one-third of Egypt's total defense budget.

During 2014, the American support was frozen as a sign of dissatisfaction with the regime change; however, in 2015, the freeze was gradually lifted and the assistance continued.

The freeze on US military assistance affected all areas (acquisition of weapon, training, support and technologistical systems) and led the Egyptians to the understanding that relying solely on the US is risky and that the sources of military equipment need to be diversified as much as possible. Therefore, Egypt turned to Russia, France and China for military assistance and acquisition.

The return of Egypt to Russian military assistance and its view of Russia as a strategic partner in place of the US were symbolically manifested in the joint naval maneuver held by the two countries in June 2015 and the delivery of vessels as a gift from Russia.

Apart from the US financial assistance and the restoration of strategic relations with Russia, it is worth mentioning the massive Egyptian acquisition of weaponry and platforms based on Saudi financing and with a French guarantee of deals signed with France in the amount of about 3.3 billion euro. In recent years, France has become the main source of arms for Egypt.

In the French context, it is worth mentioning that the air force has also benefited from the best French weapon systems and platforms and the acquisition of the Rafale aircraft which are equipped with advanced battle systems and missiles (including Scalpcruise missiles for the attack of ground targets).

During this period, the Egyptian navy's buildup of force included massive acquisitions of ships, including one French-made Fremm frigate,four other French-made Go-Windfrigates (one of which was built in France and three of which will be built in Egypt, including the transfer of infrastructure and shipbuilding capability to

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Egypt and advanced naval Exocet MM40 anti-ship missiles). The acquisitions also included four American-made Ambassador (FMC) missile boats.

In addition to the aforementioned, Egypt received a gift from Russia in the form of a Molniya missile boat. This boat carries ultrasonic Moskit missiles (which wentinto service in the 1980s, have a range of up to 250 kilometers and a speed of Mach 3 and are outfitted with a self-guided radar head). The ship was handed over, as mentioned, to Egypt as part of growing EgyptianRussian cooperation and in particular after the aforementioned Egyptian distancing from the US. In the underwater domain, which is becoming increasingly developed in the Egyptian navy, four advanced German U-209 submarines have been acquired (with possibly another two in the future). The new Egyptian submarines, like the old Romeo submarines, will be equipped with the Harpoon antiship missile, as well as advanced German torpedoes and sea mines. This purchase of the submarines was part of the continuing upgrade of the old submarines that began in the late 1990s and the acquisition of American submarine detection sonar, which was installed on the Chinese Heinan submarine hunters.

The acquisitionsof the Egyptian navy are centered on two French-made Mistral helicopter and troop carriers at a cost of 950 million euro. The ships carry Russian Ka-52 attack helicopters (around 50 were purchased) and ground forces—mechanized and infantry. These ships provide the Egyptians with the capability to amphibiously land troops and tanks and to carry out air attacks deep in enemy territory.

The need for helicopter and troop carriers is apparently for the fighting in Yemen (about 600 Egyptian troops are participating in the war there) and the operational need to project power in Yemen and in the Red Sea. This is part of an overall strategy to create a naval force that controls the Red Sea and the Bab el Mandeb Strait with the goal of protecting vital shipping and Egyptian strategic assets in the Red Sea. Figure 2: Above – Ka-52 attack helicopter takes off from the deck of a Mistral ship. Below – A cross-section view of the vessel including the configuration for carrying landing craft, armored vehicles and helicopters.

The buildup of the Egyptian navy will within the next few years bring it up to 8 submarines (German and Chinese) and 56 missile-carrying ships (in addition to other vessels).

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Exclusive Column Principles of the Egyptian naval force buildup The force buildup of the Egyptian navy, including the development of infrastructures for maintenance and production, while relying on diverse sources for the acquisition of arms, is based on those principles: a)The increased importance of the Red Sea as a route for commerce and the transport of petroleum, with emphasis on the race between countries (the US, China, France, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Japan) to control its shipping routes (and in particular the Horn of Africa and Bab el Mandeb Strait). Egypt aspires to achieve regional hegemony in this theater based on an economic and strategic vision. b)The military challenges and threats facing Egypt have grown in recent years. These include the fighting in Sudan and Yemen and the potential threats from the direction of Libya and the growth of ISIS in Sinai. Together with these threats, which areasymmetric from Egypt's point of view, it has also come to regard Iran and Israel as threats, even if not in the immediate term. c)Egypt wishes to strengthen and consolidate its independence from foreign sources so as not to develop dependency on one source of arms. This desire is in particular the result of a feeling of isolation and disappointment with the US, which "abandoned" Egypt during the Arab Spring. d)The development of independent capabilities and infrastructure for the construction and maintenance of ships. e) Egypt's desire to strengthen its image as a regional superpower and in particular as a naval superpower. f) Strengthening of the army's image and prestige both internally and externally.

symmetric threats it will need to deal with in the future, i.e. Israel and Iran. At the same time, the Egyptian force buildup also involves the development and reinforcement of capabilities for the regional power projection capabilities in all of its theaters of operation (the Mediterranean and the Red Sea) and the fighting against terrorist organizations that use asymmetric methods of warfare and which constitute an immediate threat to the Egyptian navy originating from Libya, Sudan and Sinai.

In other words, the force buildup is directed at providing a solution against symmetric threats and warfare against other navies, but at the same time it is directed at developing diverse capabilities that will provide rapid and flexible solutions against asymmetric threats, often at locations distant from Egyptian shores.

Another growing trend in Egypt is the increasing strength of the navy's Southern Command (the Red Sea) which is necessary in order to protect a 1500kilometer coast and Egypt's aforementioned economic and strategic interests, primarily in the Horn of Africa and the Bab el Mandeb Strait.

Following are the most prominent elements in the Egyptian buildup of power: a) The reinforcement and development of above-water fighting capabilities, by means of acquiring additional vessels from various countries (as mentioned, the US, France, Russia and Germany).

The new ships have highly advanced capabilities, including advanced detection systems, air protection capability against attacking aircraft and advanced missiles, as well as diverse attack capabilities (anti-ship missiles of various types, such as Exocet MM40, Moskit and Harpoon) b) A major upgrade of outdated air defense systems for its ships (such as the use of French Aster-15 air defense missiles)

Analysis of the buildup of power and future trends The force buildup of power in the Egyptian navy is intended to help transform Egypt into a regional superpower, with emphasis on the maritime domain, which for Egypt is the lifeline to commerce, energy infrastructure (oil and gas), food (fish) and major transportation routes for international trade, which is a primary component in the Egyptian economy. It should be mentioned that Egyptian economists expect that the Suez Canal and the adjoining industrial and commercial parks will account for up to one-third of the Egyptian economy.

The Egyptian force buildup of power is directed toward the development of capabilities to meet the main

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c) The development of underwater battle capabilities.

Egypt views the sea as a strategic domain on the one hand (gathering of intelligence, implementation of commando operations, attacking of ships, with emphasis on supply convoys, and perhaps also maritime blockades). On the other hand, Egypt apparently views the underwater domain as a significant risk factor to its forces. Evidence of this is the number of ships with anti-submarine weaponry and mine detection capability. d) Maintaining integrated battle capabilities for the attack of ships from the air, by means of F16 aircraft that carry the Harpoon anti-ship missile.

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Exclusive Column e) The development of capabilities for projection of power from sea, maneuvering and firepower from helicopter and troop carriers, which enable the Egyptians to attack deep in enemy territory and to maneuver at sea in order to land ground forces on significant scale. f) The Development of advanced naval commands capabilities by means of a large number of speedboats and underwater vessels for the transport of invading troops.

The advantages of this buildup of force lie in the broad development, as mentioned, of battle and attack capabilities both on the surface and under the water, together with the development of survival capabilities of the naval forces (by means of air defense systems).

The buildup of power involves a diversity of vessels and weapons and is the practical implementation of Egyptian policy, according to which Egypt should not rely on only one source of arms and must develop its own production capabilities.

In contrast and at the same time, the Egyptian navy will have to deal with the assimilation of new platforms and with them the development, integration and modification of new battle doctrines, which will be based on the acquired operational experience and the assimilation of the new capabilities. In parallel, it will have to maintain its old capabilities and vessels.

Another major issue that the Egyptian will have to deal with is the development and assimilation of infrastructures and maintenance facilities for the new platforms and systems, together with support for the old systems and platforms, such as the OHP, Knox and other types of ships.The development and preservation of maintenance and techno-logistical support capabilities for a highly diverse collection of vessels and systems will constitute a major challenge in terms of budget, logistics and infrastructure, as well as the training of manpower.

The last item on this list is the outdated coastal defense system, which is based on Russian Styx missiles and Italian Otomat missiles. These systems are several decades old and it appears that preference has not been given to upgrading them. It is possible that in coming years Egypt will take steps to upgrade these systems as well. In this context, it is worth mentioning reports in the Egyptian press during 2014 which concerned the possible acquisition of Russian Yakhont coast-to-sea missiles.

Summary and Conclusions The force buildup is allowing the Egyptian navy to upgrade its vessels at a rate unprecedented in recent decades.

This policy creates major differences between the various systems and platforms and forces the Egyptian navy to create separate and different maintenance facilities (with a high degree of complexity and a high cost) and to createoperationaldoctrines and technological capacities that will enable integration between the systems and between the vessels. This constitutes a major disadvantage of the Egyptian acquisition strategy.

This process is making it possible for Egypt to rapidly consolidate its position as a regional maritime superpower, with major offensive capabilities to face both its symmetric and asymmetric adversaries and also in distant theaters, based on the ability to project power on land and sea and under an air defense umbrella.

This process is based on the Egyptian navy as the strategic long arm of Egypt, with emphasis on the ability to operate in the Red Sea and eastward.

The coming years will be critical for the Egyptian navy.

The fighting in Sudan and Yemen in which Egypt is involved requires the investment of attention, effort and resources. Nonetheless, the fighting enables the navy to accumulate valuable operational experience in projection-of-power scenarios in distant locations, while coordinating and integrating between the various branches.

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Exclusive Column The diversiďŹ cation of sources for military acquisitions makes it possible on the one hand for Egypt not have to rely on only one source of arms and on the other hand enables it to obtain advanced weapons and platforms and to create strategic collaborations with a variety of countries.

The diverse acquisitions and the international collaborations (acquisitions, training and exercises) enables Egypt to improve its capabilities and its military tactics, although it creates complexity in the maintenace of vessels and systems and requires it to create techno-logistical infrastructures and advanced training programs, particularly if Egypt wants to maintain its older vessels.

The ďŹ ghting in Yemen and Sudan, in which Egypt is involved, and cumulative operational experience are enabling Egypt to improve its operational capabilities, its military tactics and also its ability to coordinate with the other military branches, with emphasis on the air force and the marines. The vessels that have been acquired, with emphasis on the Mistral ships, will in my opinion aect not only the navy's military tactics but also those of the Egyptian military forces as a whole.

The integration between the new platforms, the new weapons systems, Western training, joint maneuvers with international forces and the operational experience accumulated in recent years will lead to major strategic and operational changes in the navy's military tactics.

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Exclusive Column

Maritime Fraud There is nothing new about maritime crime as a phenomenon, but recent years have seen a constant flux in the dynamics of maritime fraud. The fashionable fraud of yesterday may or may not be perpetrated without any variation today, depending almost entirely on the state of the world economy. Fraud is an inescapable part of commerce and all fraudsters rely on some form of documentation to persuade their victims that a particular transaction is genuine. There have been some spectacular cases of documentary fraud in recent times.

have been incidents of unusual losses. In the last few years, these and other factors have led to a significant escalation in the number of incidents that can be termed as 'maritime frauds'.

Types of Fraud Maritime fraud has many guises and its methods are open to infinite variations. Majority of these crimes can be classified into four categories as under:

What is a fraud? An international trade transaction involves several parties-exporter, importer, ship-owner, charterer, ship's master, officers and crew, insurer, banker, broker or agent, freight forwarder. Maritime fraud occurs

1) Scuttling of ships 2) Documentary frauds 3) Cargo Thefts 4) Fraud related to the chartering of vessels

when one of these parties unjustly takes another's goods or money. In some cases, several of these parties act in collusion to defraud another. Banks and insurers are often the victims of such frauds.

Scuttling of Ships Also known as 'rust bucket' frauds, this involves deliberate sinking of vessels in pursuance of fraud against both cargo and hull interests. With occasional exceptions, these

The sinking of an over-insured vessel carrying a high valued non-existent cargo has been encountered at regular intervals. During periods of economic and political

crimes are committed by ship-owners in a situation where a vessel is approaching or has the end of its economic life, taking into account the age of the vessel, its condition and

upheaval and depression in the shipping business, there

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Exclusive Column the prevailing freight market. The crime can be aimed at

Documentary Frauds

hull insurers alone or against both hull and cargo interests.

This type of fraud involves the sale and purchase of goods

For example, a dishonest owner may approach an

on documentary credit terms and some or all of the

exporter and offer to carry his next large cargo shipment on

documents specified by the buyer to be presented by the

his vessel. The exporter is to arrange the contract and the

seller to the bank in order to receive payment, are forged.

proposed buyer to open a letter of credit in his favor to pay

Bankers pay against documents. The forged documents

for them. No goods are actually to be supplied or shipped,

attempt to cover up the fact that the goods actually do not

but the ship-owner agrees to supply bills of lading to show

exist or that they are not of the quality ordered by the buyer.

that the goods have been loaded on the vessel. The bills of

When the unfortunate purchaser of the goods belatedly

lading together with such other documents as are required

realizes that no goods are arriving, he starts checking, only

are presented to the bank negotiating the letter of credit.

to find that the alleged carrying vessels either does not

The banker pays against documents and not against

exist or was loading at some other port at the relevant time.

goods. After ascertaining that the cargo description

Banks deal with documents and not in the goods covered

corresponds to the requirements as stipulated in the L/C,

by them. A bank which accepts under a letter of credit a set

the bank, in the normal course of events, releases the

of documents which appear to be regular on their face, is

funds under the terms of the L/C.

not liable to its principal if the documents turn out to be forged or to contain false statements. Thus a confirming

The ship, without it is by now paid for, but non-existent

bank is entitled to obtain reimbursement against such

cargo, leaves port. It should not of course reach its

documents from the issuing bank and the issuing bank is

destination, because should it do so, the missing cargo

entitled to obtain payment against them from the buyer.

would lead immediately to the discovery of the fraud. To

Thus the loss is usually borne by the buyer.

avoid this eventually, the ship is deliberately scuttled in a suitable location, so as to remove the evidence of the non-

It is precisely to discourage the activities of fraudsters

existent shipment beyond any prospect of subsequent

relating to export cargoes that insurance companies

investigation.

evolved the ship approval system. This has been extended to full load import cargo also. The vessels usually employed by fraudsters are: -Vessels flying a flag of convenience -Vessels over 15 or 20 years of age -Usually small sized ships of 7000 to 10000 GRT -Vessels having changed their names and owners a few months before the last voyage.

The ship-owner enters an insurance claim on his hull underwriters and he also receives a share of the proceeds from the letter of credit from exporter, leaving the hapless buyer to pursue an insurance claim for loss/non-delivery of his cargo.

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Exclusive Column

Panoramic view of the Mega Coastal Projects

CHESTA MISHRA Managing Editor The completion of coastal engineering projects in a relatively short time frame has completely changed the concept of dredging in the past forty years. The rapid technological developments in the maritime construction domain and the growing trend of the high magnitude of projects aka mega projects are resulting in increasing demand of personnel, engineers, crew members and such others in the dredging industry. This essay takes the point of these issues and makes an attempt to address these (demands) and their impact on the educational and professional needs of the labor force.

A close look at the domestic industry reveals that Coastal engineering's megaprojects are the show stoppers.

However, it still remains unclear on how to categorize these projects. By Economical or environmental impact, by cross-section area, volume, total business, opportunities it brings or by the profit generated. Be it the Sagarmala project of India, Maasvlakte Rotterdam, Tuas reclamation such projects fall under this category.

Although projects of past such as Suez Canal and Panama Canal, (the closure of Lake IJssel and the subsequent reclamation of 165,000 hectares of land, the Delta Project in the Netherlands, including the stormsurge barriers in the Eastern Scheldt and the Rotterdam Waterway) these weren't considered mega enough to fall in this category.

So, how should we make a decision?

A critical analysis of similarities and the differences suggests that it is difficult to make a distinction between new and old projects. If we are to make a significant differentiation, it would be the construction time. As it takes decades in completing these projects and thanks to the help of modern engineering, the recent projects got completed within few years of time. If there is faster execution of these projects, then it also defines into it

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certain criteria of megaprojects but if we are to discuss the issue on parameters limiting it into a cave of contractors that will only be an injustice to the designers, technicians, and owners.

The faster execution is behind the reason in an increase in the rate of ROI. Quantitative Economists are scrutinizing these projects on the net present value (NPV). And if we are to reduce the payments of NPV interest on the capital invested becomes a requirement. Another major reason is the copyright infringement practices by the competitors'.

Whatever is the reason behind this, we cannot neglect the importance of technology and the equipment of construction/dredging remains the most pertinent factor that determines the faster execution of these projects. If we have a better understanding of physical processes such as mixture formation, pumping, water mixtures and deposition of granular material it would have worked as a catalyst in the spiked growth in the overall production capacity.

The very conclusion in the first place is that is must involve a much larger responsibility than we have taken in the past. But a larger responsibility leads to more stress and can have quite adverse effects. Society expects a larger span of control from its engineers, a vision of the consequences of a project, a rapid and apt response if something unexpected occurs. We need to prepare our engineers by education & training, by putting an adequate human resources selection process in place. Employees are subject to changes in the social field as well. For example, in the past, the project extended so often employees would take the whole family along with themselves for many years. The firms used to provide housing, basic amenities, education, and healthcare facilities for a large group of company employees leading to a lot of burden on the financial situation of the firms. A deep analysis, suggests that in the end, the economic & social factors along with technological developments are the prime factors that determine the speed of executing these projects. www.seaandcoast.in

NEWS

Andaman & Nicobar Command joins hands with Sadhguru for International Day of Yoga Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) will be joining hands with Sadhguru, Founder, Isha Foundation to celebrate the International Day of Yoga. As part of celebrations, Yoga sessions will be conducted in various clusters on 20th and 21st June 2019 at Birchgunj, Minnie Bay and INS Utkrosh. For the final day on 21st June 19, Sadhguru will lead the yoga session on board Floating Dock of Indian Navy (FDN-2). Vice Admiral Bimal Verma, AVSM,ADC, Commander-in-Chief, Andaman and Nicobar Command along with senior officers, personnel and families of the Indian Army, Navy , Air Force and Coast Guard will participate in the event. During both the days, more than 800 personnel and their families are expected to participate. To train the yoga instructors in Ayush protocol, a yoga camp was also conducted from 10th to 16th June 19 at Minnie Bay to enable all components of

ANC to conduct independent yoga sessions at various locations. Sadhguru is expected to arrive Port Blair on 20th June 19 and depart on 22nd June 19, post attending the events earmarked for International Day of Yoga. During the visit Sadhguru will be felicitating the organ donors of the Command and will also be interacting with personnel and families of ANC. Discussions during the interaction will cover a range of issues including personal and professional challenges that men and women in uniform face in the line of duty and how yoga can provide much needed balance and vigour that will empower the Armed Forces to perform at peak efficiency in times of peace and conflict. “Andaman and Nicobar Islands are one of nation’s most desolate and vulnerable terrains. The effort of the military’s tri service command to guard the nation’s sovereignty is truly invaluable. It is paramount to equip these soldiers with yogic tools for transformation.” said Sadhguru, ahead of the visit.

Aframax damaged in collision, cargo operations suspended, Novorossiysk Aframax tanker FOS HAMILTON allided with pier at Novorossiysk Oil Terminal during mooring, on Jun 22.

Tanker sustained portside stern damages, pier said to suffer damages, too. Tanker hull wasn’t breached, tanker moved to anchorage in the afternoon same day, and anchored. As of midday Jun 24, tanker was in the same position. Understood pier cargo operations were suspended, damages assessment under way.

Crude oil tanker FOS HAMILTON, IMO 9656890, dwt 105408, built 2013, flag Marshall Islands

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NEWS

Tanker collided with bridge, Mississippi river Product tanker DANK SILVER collided with Sunshine Bridge, St. James Parish, Louisiana, Mississippi river, at around 1330 LT Jun 16, while proceeding downstream, shortly after leaving Convent, Burnside. Bridge was closed in both directions for roughly two hours, but state officials said the structure was not damaged. Tanker sailed downstream and was anchored at Gramercy, about an hour and a half later after collision, for damages assessment and investigation. No reports on tanker's damages, tanker struck the fender that protects the bridge, probably damages are slight. No leak reported. Cause of collision yet unknown.

Product tanker DANK SILVER, IMO 9718806, dwt 45923, built 2016, flag Marshall Islands, manager OMAN SHIPPING CO SAOC, Oman (EQUASIS).

Storm Miguel kills three after overturning rescue ship off French coast A rescue boat has overturned in the Atlantic off the west coast of France leaving three crew members dead, amid winds of up to 129 km/h (80 mph).

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Winds of up to 147km/h hit northern Spain earlier, swirling around the Bay of Biscay and moving on to France. The storm is unusual, coming at the start of the summer tourist season. Photographs of the National Society of Sea Rescue boat captured it rolling in large swells in the moments before it capsized, after which the vessel ran ashore upside down. Four of the seven crew members aboard the rescue boat managed to swim to shore. They were part of a crew of seven who had gone to the aid of another boat which had got into difficulty as Storm Miguel struck the area.

Three helicopters and around 60 firefighters were attempting to find the bodies of the three dead.

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NEWS

Search underway for woman who fell off cruise ship between France, Spain A Norwegian Cruise Line spokesperson confirmed that a woman, whose name was not released, was reported to have fallen off the Norwegian Epic cruise ship hours after it departed from Cannes, France, early Saturday.

A search was on in the Mediterranean for a cruise ship passenger who went overboard while on a voyage from the South of France to Spain, officials said Sunday.

"On the early morning of June 8, a report was made that an adult female guest went overboard while the ship was sailing from Cannes, France, to Palma de Mallorca, Spain. The authorities were immediately notified and a search and rescue operation ensued. Sadly, the guest has not yet been found. Our thoughts and prayers are with the individual's family during this difficult time," a Norwegian Cruise Line spokesperson said in a statement.

The missing passenger is a 63-year-old Korean woman, a source reported to the ABC News. The woman, who was traveling with her husband, left her cabin about 1 a.m. to go out for some fresh air, the source said.

The woman's husband reported her missing when he woke up and found she had not returned to the cabin, according to the sources.

US Navy brand new combat littoral ship struck Canadian freighter Both ships, probably, were damaged in accident, extent of US Navy littoral combat ship USS BILLINGS contacted berthed freighter ROSAIRE A. DESGAGNES on Jun 21 at Montreal, Canada, reported Great Lakes and Seaway Shipping News. USS BILLINGS was in process of unmooring with assistance of two tugs, ROSAIRE A. DESGAGNES was berthed astern of Navy ship.

Somehow USS BILLINGS went out of control, moved astern and contacted ROSAIRE A. DESGAGNES. As of morning Jun 24, USS BILLINGS was still at Montreal (she’s supposed to sail to Key West), ROSAIRE A. DESGAGNES was berthed at Sainte-Catherine, Montreal, having been moved there on Jun 23.

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damages unknown.

General cargo ship ROSAIRE A. DESGAGNES, IMO 9363534, dwt 12776, built 2006, flag Canada, manager Transport Desgagnes Inc. US Navy littoral combat ship USS BILLINGS, MMSI 368926295. displacement 3500, launched 2017, complement up to 125, armament guns, missiles, helicopters.

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NEWS

Hungary boat crash: Arrested captain onboard another ship during different accident

The Mermaid pleasure boat was capsized in the Danube in Budapest last week killing 28 people, majorly South Korean tourists, after a collision with the larger Viking Sigyn ship.

The captain of a cruise liner involved in the fatal collision with a pleasure boat which sank in the River Danube last week was on board another liner which crashed into a tanker in the Netherlands, Hungarian prosecutors say.

Following the collision on 29 May, Hungarian authorities arrested a 64-year-old Ukrainian man identified by police as C. Yuriy from Odessa who was the captain on board the Viking Sigyn. He is currently being held as a suspect in Budapest. His lawyers say he was devastated but has done nothing wrong.

But Hungarian prosecutors now say he was involved in an accident in the Netherlands on 1 April as well.

Climate protesters block cruise ship in Kiel About 50 climate protesters blocked the departure of a cruise ship from the German port of Kiel on Sunday, trying to call attention to the "catastrophic local and global consequences of cruises" as well as the poor working conditions aboard.

Police called in the Special Forces to deal with climate protesters in the northern German port of Kiel. About 50 people blocked the departure of the vessel, saying that "cruises kill climate."A group calling itself Smash Cruiseshit used small boats and climbing equipment to delay the Zuiderdam, owned and operated by the British-American cruise company Holland America Line. They also occupied a crane on the harbor quay.

A police operation to clear the protesters took several hours and involved Special Forces. Police eventually arrested the protesters and confiscated their vessels, leaving the ship free to depart at about 10 p.m..

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NEWS

German container ship damaged gantry crane, detained

Container ship NAGOYA EXPRESS contacted gantry crane at International Container Terminal, Hai Phong, on Jun 7, while unmooring, said Port Administration official on Jun 19. The ship berthed at Terminal on Jun 6, on arrival from Cai Mep, Saigon. She remained berthed at Terminal until Jun 9, on Jun 9 was moved to Hai Phong outer anchorage, and as of morning Jun 20, was still at anchor. $5 mil gantry crane was critically damaged, crane is bent and kept from collapsing by supporting pillars, said vnexpress.net, see pic. No reports on ship’s damages.

She’s probably, detained for investigation, damages assessment and ruling on loss cover.

Container ship NAGOYA EXPRESS, IMO 9450428, dwt 103646, capacity 8749 TEU, built 2010, flag Germany, operator HAPAG-LLOYD AG.

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Brand new luxury yacht burned out, sank, Italy. VIDEO Brand new luxury yacht TECHNOMAR EVO 120 caught fire, was badly damaged and partially sank early in the morning Jun 16 at in Marina di Carrara, Italy. According to reports in the Italian media the yacht caught fire at around 0100, no injures have been reported.

Luxury yacht TECHNOMAR EVO 120, GT 250, length 36.6 meters, built 2019, flag Italy, guests 8, crew 5.

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NEWS

INS TARKASH AT ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT (28 JUNE - 01 JULY 2019)

In a demonstration of India's commitment to its ties with Egypt and of Indian Navy's increasing footprint and operational reach, Indian Naval Ship Tarkash arrived at Alexandria on 28 June 2019 for a three day visit, as a part of Western Fleet Overseas Deployment programme.

During the visit of Tarkash, professional interactions are planned with the Egyptian Navy towards further enhancing co-operation between the two forces. In addition, calls on senior Government and military authorities, sporting, cultural interactions, exchange visit of ships personnel and sharing of best practices, aimed at strengthening ties and mutual understanding between the two Navies, are also planned.

Lines of Communication pass through Red Sea into the Mediterranean through Suez Canal in Egypt.

The current visit seeks to underscore India's peaceful presence and solidarity with friendly countries and, in particular, to strengthen the existing bonds of friendship between India and Egypt.

Tarkash, commanded by Captain Sathish Vasudev, is a state of the art warship of the Indian Navy equipped with a versatile range of weapons and sensors capable of addressing threats in all the three dimensions. The ship is part of the Indian Navy's Western Fleet and is under the operational Command of Flag OďŹƒcer Commanding-inChief, Western Naval Command, based at Mumbai.

India and Egypt are two of the world's oldest civilizations.

Building upon the rich and longstanding relations that have existed between India and Egypt, both nations have developed warm relations in several spheres. A number of bilateral agreements for cooperation and cultural exchange exist between the two nations. The geostrategic location of Egypt provides it the unique advantage of being at the crossroads of Africa, Asia and Europe. Crucial Sea

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NEWS

Indian Navy Executes OP Sankalp

Indian Navy has deployed, in the Gulf of Oman, to re-assure Indian Flagged Vessels operating/ transiting through Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman following the maritime security incidents in the region.

IN Ships Chennai and Sunayna have been deployed in the Gulf of Oman and Persian Gulf to undertake Maritime Security operations. In addition, aerial surveillance by IN aircraft is also being undertaken in the area. The Information Fusion Centre - Indian Ocean Region which was launched by the IN in December 2018 at Gurugram, is also keeping a close watch on the movement of ships in the Gulf region.

ships to undertake appropriate protection measures.

Indian Navy remains committed to ensuring safety of Indian maritime trade and merchant vessels operating in the region and contributing towards maintaining a stable and peaceful Indian Ocean Region.

After a holistic review of the situation, DG Shipping has issued two advisories on 13 and 16 June 2019 to all Indian Flagged Vessels operating in the Strait of Hormuz and Persian/ Arabian Gulf Region advising Indian Flagged

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The doctor to the patient: 'You are very sick' The patient to the doctor: 'Can I get a second opinion?'

The doctor again: 'Yes, you are very ugly too...'

I use this joke for retelling in reported speech

Teacher: "Nick, what is the past participle of the verb to ring?"

Nick: "What do you think it is, Sir?" Teacher: "I don't think, I KNOW!" Nick: "I don't think I know either, Sir!"

A man goes to the doctor and says, "Doctor, wherever I touch, it hurts."

The doctor asks, "What do you mean?"

The man says, "When I touch my shoulder, it really hurts. If I touch my knee - OUCH! When I touch my forehead, it really, really hurts."

The doctor says, "I know what's wrong with you - you've broken your finger!

A teacher asked a student to write 55.

Student asked: How? Teacher: Write 5 and beside it another 5!

The student wrote 5 and stopped. teacher: What are you waiting for? student: I don't know which side to write the other 5!

A man receives a phone call from his doctor.

There is a California dude going through a The doctor says, "I have some good news desert. He's wearing shorts, sunglasses, a and some bad news." towel and listening to music on his The man says, "OK, give me the good walkman. He's having a good time. news first."

Suddenly he sees a caravan approaching.

He stops the Arabs and ask them The doctor says, "The good news is, you cheerfully: "Hey dudes how far is the have 24 hours to live." sea?" They look at each other and say: The man replies, "Oh no! If that's the good "Two thousand miles!" And he says: news, then what's the bad news?"

"Wow what a cool beach!!!"

The doctor says, "The bad news is, I forgot to call you yesterday.

A: Just look at that young person with the short hair and blue jeans.

Is it a boy or a girl?

B: It's a girl. She's my daughter.

A: Oh, I'm sorry, sir. I didn't know that you were her father.

B: I'm not. I'm her mother.

Three mice are being chased by a cat.

The mice were cornered when one of the mice turned around and barked, "Ruff! Ruff! Ruff!" The surprised cat ran away scared. Later when the mice told their mother what happened, she smiled and said, "You see, it pays to be bilingual!

Patient: Doctor, I think that I've been bitten by a vampire.

Doctor: Drink this glass of water.

Patient: Will it make me better?

Doctor: No, I but I'll be able to see if your neck leaks

ACROS 1. Learner; one who studies 7. Opposite of bottom 8. Female deer 9. Preposition meaning “over and in contact with” 10. For example (Latin abbreviation) 12. And the others (Latin abbreviation) 14. Exclamation of surprise 15. Test; inspect closely 18. Not ever

DOWN 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

11.

Tales; short fictional narratives; anecdotes 2,000 pounds Opposite of down Rim; border; lip Negative response; opposite of yes Instructor Conjunction used with comparative adjectives and adverbs

A teacher asked a student to write 55.

Student asked: How? Teacher: Write 5 and beside it another 5!

The student wrote 5 and stopped. teacher: What are you waiting for? student: I don't know which side to write the other 5

Two children are talking.

Annie: Meet my new born brother.

Benet: Oh, he is so handsome! What's his name?

Annie: I don't know. I can't understand a word he says

In the classroom the teacher is asking a student to do something.

Teacher: Tell me a sentence that starts with "I." Student: I is the ...

Teacher: Stop! Never put "is" after "I." Always put 'am' after "I."

A man is talking to God. The man: "God, how long is a million years?"

God: "To me, it's about a minute."

The man: "God, how much is a million dollars?"

God: "To me it's a penny."

The man: "God, may I have a penny?"

God: "Wait a minute."

Teacher: Tell me a sentence that starts with an "I".

Student: I is the...

Teacher: Stop! Never put 'is' after an "I".

Always put 'am' after an "I".

Student: OK. I am the ninth letter of the alphabet.

Student: OK. I am the ninth letter of the alphabet.

Teacher: Maria please point to America on the map.

Maria: This is it.

Teacher: Well done. Now class, who found America?

Class: Maria did

A: What do you call a deer with no eyes?

B: No idea. (No Eye Deer.)

A: Doctor, will I be able to play the piano after the operation?

B: Yes, of course.

A Scotsman who was driving home one A: Great!

I never could before! night, ran into a car driven by an Englishman. The Scotsman got out of the car to apologize and oered the Englishman a drink from a bottle of whisky. The Englishman was glad to have a drink.

"Go on," said the Scot, "have another drink."

The Englishman drank gratefully. "But Two cows are standing in a ďŹ eld. don't you want one, too?" he asked the One says to the other "Are you worried Scotsman. about Mad Cow Disease?"

"Perhaps," replied the Scotsman, "after The other one says "No, It doesn't worry the police have gon me, I'm a horse!"

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