Sea and Coast

SEA AND COAST MONTHLY MARITIME MAGAZINE MAR 2019 I Volume-03

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Issue - 02 I

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

MARITIME New Ports under Sagarmala Project

Two-day Regional Maritime Safety Conference 2019 begins in Mumbai

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CONTENTS

AMIT KUMAR

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CHESTA MISHRA ...........

KARTIK MAHAJAN ..........

(Editor-in-Chief)

(Managing Editor)

36

(Assistant Editor)

6

GAUTAM KUMAR

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(Creative Head)

ADVISORY BOARD

NEWS

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24.Two-day Regional Maritime Safety Conference 2019 begins in Mumbai

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CAPTAIN RADHIKA MENON

28.Water Conservation & Management

(World’s first women to receive an IMO award)

29.Natural Gas Production

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30.Expension of PNG & CNG coverage in the Country

Dr. SADANAND GUPTA

Deputy Collector Khurja (U.P) .........................

Mr. JOGINDER SINGH Executive Director, Sriram Institute of Marine Studies 6.

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EXCLUSIVE COLUMN

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6.China and South China Sea

CE. MAHENDRA SINGH

Arbitration:Analyses in the Indo-Pacific Context

(Chief Engineer) 13. .........................

Mr. PANKAJ TANWAR

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(Legal Advisor) 14.

Mrs. SANDHYA PILLAYI Shipping Professional 15. Lawyer and Maritime

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16.

12.The future of ports and their

role in achieving a sustainable future

14.Shipping companies need to

support seafarers presenting with mental health issues

15.NORDEN has successfully completed the first test voyage with a large oceangoing vessel powered solely

by CO2 neutral biofuel.

16.The challenge: Shipping and pollution

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27.Reducing Crude Oil And Gas Imports

30.Expansion of Gas Pipeline Network Across the Country

31.Indus Waters Treaty 1960: Present status of Development in India

32.Water Conservation 34.Status of National Gas Grid 35.Shri Dharmendra Pradhan hand over Letter 36.Exploration and Licensing Policy for Enhancing Domestic Exploration and Production of Oil and Gas

38.Ujjwala Bharat- Composed by Kailash Kher release

39.New Ports under Sagarmala Project 40.Development of Smart Industrial Port Cities

41.Promotion of Shipping Route with Bangladesh

17.What does Co2 neutral mean?

42.Sea Plane Services

18.Finding New Uses For Waste

43.Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicate Patna

Products

19.When Indian ships carried more than just goods

River Front

44.United Arab Emirates accedes to air pollution and energy

45.IMO Secretary-General urges all aboard 20.Leading the Conservation Narrative in the Indian Ocean Region – Developing India's Strategy in Building a Regional Framework for Oceans Governance 21.Revival of Shipping

Corporation of India

22.General Principles

dismissal of seafarers

for GHG reduction

46.Preparing for the sulphur 2020 limit 47.Tackling barriers to Just-In-Time ship operation 48.Turkey ratifies ship recycling convention 49.Feasibility Study on Inland Waterways 52.Oil and Gas Reserves in KG Basin

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EDITORIAL

Ease of Business ranking Improvement in India through Port community system

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ase of doing business (EODB) ranking today ,more than ever is considered the ultimate parameter for gauging the environment for business growth in a country.In the EODB index, ‘higher rankings’ (a lower numerical value) indicate better, usually simpler, regulations for businesses and stronger protections of property rights. Each country is trying its best to be among the top rankers in the list ,conclusively proving it to be favored destination for investments. India improved its ranking from 139 in 2010 to 100 in 2017 and finally to 77 in 2018.

One of the key areas where Government of India wants to improve its rankings is the parameter of “Ease of trading across borders” under EODB. Ease of trading across borders primarily records the time and cost related to the logistical process of exporting and importing goods. It measures the three sets of processes within the overall process ,the 3 processes namely Documentary compliance; Border compliance and Domestic transportation.

Government of India in the pursuit of improving its ranking ,implemented its ambitious direct port delivery(DPD) and direct port entry(DPE) . DPD and DPE were introduced by CBEC and Ministry of Finance in, 2015 under the ambit of authorized economic operator program of world customs organization.The plan was implemented at major port in the country including JNPT, Kolkata Port Trust, Chennai Port Trust, Cochin Port Trust.

The program was aimed at reducing the dwell time of EXIM containers from a national average of 9 days to the benchmark of 48/72 hours. Under the plan government wanted to promote direct deliveries to and from the ports to undermine the role of CFS(container freight stations) which were found to be adding to the dwell time of the EXIM container .This plan received a mixed response from various stakeholders , Port Authorities and Customs department were promoting the traders to enroll for Authorised Economic Operator program to take the advantage of DPD and DPE scheme . But at the same time CFS industry was looking into existential crisis and the traders were worried about their increased warehousing charges owing to fact of quick evacuation of the consignments.

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The mixed response and major bottlenecks in the policy implementation led to Government withdrawing the policy. The main reason behind the policy not being able to meet its objective was that the stakeholders felt that the flow of information through the entire system of DPD/DPE was not efficient and thus the dwell time couldn't improve.

As countries globally move towards Single window environment for EXIM trade facilitation , It is important for India to look for a policy that will improve the “Ease of Trading across border” but at the same time ensure that the exchange of information among various stakeholders like Ports , 3rd Party Logistics provider, ICD-CFS is seamless .

Government of India has found the solution in “Port Community System”(PCS) .According to United Nations “Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific “ PCS is defined as a neutral and open electronic platform enabling intelligent and secure exchange of information between public and private stakeholders in order to improve the competitive position of the sea ports’ communities. It Optimises, manages and automates port and logistics processes through a single submission of data and connecting transport and logistics chains Port Community Systems can, and will, play a major role as Countries move towards the Single Window environment.

Mr Nitin Gadkari ,Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Shipping inaugurated India’s own port community system “PCSx1” at Regional Maritime Safety Conference in Mumbai. PCS has been a success story in Europe and India aspires to replicate the same success . PCS is forecasted to play a vital role in improving the “ Ease of Trade Across Borders” EODB , in the maritime sector by facilitating a transparent and paper-less electronic submission of trade documentation , flow of seamless information among stakeholders, providing a common platform to the entire EXIM supply chain resulting in faster turnaround time and dwell time.

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SHE @ SEA NAME: CAPT. AAKRITI BARTHWAL COMPANY NAME: SWARNA GODAVARI RANK: MASTER

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EXCLUSIVE COLUMN Hamsa Devineni

Advocate, Adjunct Fellow National Maritime Foundation (NMF)

China and South China Sea Arbitration: Analyses in the Indo-Pacific Context

n January 2013, the Philippines initiated an international arbitration case against China under Part XV, S e c t i o n 2 o n “ C o m p u l s o r y Procedures Entailing Binding Decisions” and Annex VII (“Arbitration”) to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982 (UNCLOS). The case concerned the prevailing maritime disputes in the South China Sea (SCS), and broadly concerned the role of historic rights, maritime entitlements, the status of maritime features and the lawfulness of certain actions by China, upon which, the Philippines alleged that China had violated the Convention. China adopted a position of non-acceptance and non- participation in the proceedings, and eventually, rejected its verdict declared in July 2016.

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The case is very relevant to the 'rise' of the Indo-Pacific region; and more specifically, to the imponderable whether amidst the emerging challenges to the established legal maritime order, regional countries would eventually cherish their hardfought and well-deserved objectives of the 'Indo-Pacific' idea that seeks regional prosperity and development.

Such academic enquiry — as also its functional solution — lie in ascertaining the answers to two key questions: First, in rejecting the jurisdiction of PCA — and later, its decision — under the compulsory dispute resolution mechanism of UNCLOS, is China's position legally valid? If so, is the relevant international law (UNCLOS) inadequate to address the emergent geopolitical issues in the IndoPacific region?

This issue-brief aims to address these questions, ascertain the implications of the same on stable and lawful maritime order in 'Indo-Pacific' region, and offer recommendations in this regard.

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Capt. (Dr.) Gurpreet S Khurana

Executive Director National Maritime Foundation ( NMF )

The Legal Dimension

The UNCLOS, in the first instance, mandates all its State parties to settle their d i s p u t e s a m i c a b l y, mutually and by peaceful means. However, when the parties are unable to settle a dispute, it also provides a procedure to resolve the contention under Part XV of UNCLOS on 'Settlement of Disputes'. It permits any State to institute a case against another State in one of the forums chosen by the latter in its declaration under Article 287(1) (Section 2 of Part XV on 'Compulsory Procedures Entailing Binding Decisions'). As per this provision, every State is free to choose one or more of the four enumerated forums n a m e l y, t h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) or the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or an arbitral Tribunal constituted under Annexure VII or a special arbitral tribunal constituted under Annexure VIII. Given that China

EXCLUSIVE COLUMN has not made a declaration choosing the forum, it is deemed to have accepted arbitration under Annexure VII [Article287(3)]. accordingly, given that the Philippines failed in its attempts to resolve its longpending maritime dispute with China in the SCS through

PCA to decide on 15 issues.

Manila's contentions may be distilled into three key issues, as follows: Ÿ China's claim to sovereign

jurisdiction within the ninedash line on the basis of 'historic rights' are unlawful.

bilateral negotiation, it took recourse to instituting arbitration Ÿ The features that China claims in SCS do not generate proceedings before the maritime zone entitlements as Permanent Court of Arbitration per UNCLOS. (PCA), in accordance with Annexure VII of the Convention. Ÿ China has violated its obligations under UNCLOS, including in terms of The Philippines requested the

interfering with the Philippines' exercise of the sovereign rights.

China refused to participate in the arbitration proceedings f o r m a l l y a s a p a r t y. I t , nonetheless, expressed its view to the Tribunal through a

'position paper'. Broadly, the paper said that the PCA had no jurisdiction on the issue between the two countries, and that China has filed a declaration under Article 298(1), which exempts it from compulsory arbitration.

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EXCLUSIVE COLUMN The declaration made by China on 26 August 2006 had stated that: “The Government of the People's Republic of China does not accept any of the procedures provided for in Section 2 of Part XV of the convention with respect to all the categories of disputes referred to in paragraphs1(a), (b) and (c) of Article 298 of the Convention.”

Essentially, the three paragraphs of UNCLOS refer to the disputes…

1(a) “…relating to historic bays or titles…and… sovereignty or other rights over continental or insular land territory”.

1(b) “…concerning military activities and disputes concerning law enforcement activities”.

1(c) “…in respect of which the Security Council of the United Nations (UN) is exercising the functions assigned to it by the (UN) Charter….”

On the jurisdiction issue, the PCA Tribunal conducted a separate hearing under UNCLOS Article 288(4) , which empowers it to decide on its own jurisdiction. Accordingly, on 29 October 2015, the Tribunal passed a preliminary order affirming its lawful jurisdiction to decide the dispute between the Philippines and China.

The Tribunal proceedings, thereafter, continued as per Article (9) of Annexure VII, which inter alia, states that the absence of a party or the failure of a party to defend its case shall not constitute a bar to the proceedings. China was provided with daily transcripts and documents of the Tribunal proceedings, along with the opportunity to comment thereon. However, China continued to exempt itself from participating based on declaration it had made by it in 2006 under UNCLOS, Article 298(1) [sub-paras (a), (b) and (c)], as mentioned above that exempts it from compulsory dispute settlement.

Clearly, the claims raised by the Philippines did not fall under (a) 'sovereignty or other rights over continental or insular land territory', or (b) or (c) above, for which China sought exemption. As regards the exception on (a) 'historic bays or titles', the Tribunal declared that, “as between the Philippines and China, China's claim to historic rights, or other sovereign rights or jurisdiction, with respect to the maritime areas of the South China Sea encompassed by the relevant part of the 'Nine-dash line' are contrary to the convention and without lawful effect, to the extent that they exceed the geographic and substantive limits of China's maritime entitlements under the Convention”.

The Tribunal further declared that, “the Convention superseded any historic rights, or other sovereign rights or jurisdiction, in excess of the limits imposed therein.” Thus, the 'historic bay or titles' exception enumerated in Article 298(1)(a) is subject to the limits imposed by the UNCLOS and this exception cannot be taken to mean an exception to the geographic and substantive limits of the maritime entitlements enumerated under the Convention. Thus, China's claim to sovereign jurisdiction on the basis of historic rights was declared illegal by the PCA through its final order issued on 12 July 2016.

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EXCLUSIVE COLUMN The order of the PCA being “final” means there is no further chance of appeal or revision and both the Philippines and China are legally bound by it, alike the orders passed by the ITLOS, the ICJ, or arbitral tribunals under Annexure VII or VIII. Additionally, Article 33 of Annexure VI and Article 11 of Annexure VII also reiterate that the order of ITLOS and the arbitral Tribunal constituted under Annexure VII are final and binding on the parties.

However, despite this, China refused to comply with the Tribunal's verdict.

On the other hand, the Philippines has not been able to compel enforcement of the arbitral award due to lack of effective enforcement provisions under the UNCLOS. Although Article 12(1) of Annexure VII says that a dispute regarding implementation of an arbitral award may be submitted to the same arbitral tribunal, the UNCLOS is silent on its power to execute the award. Only a decision adjudicated upon by the ICJ is enforceable by recourse to the UN Security Council, which can take measures to give effect to the judgment (Article 94 of the UN Charter). As things stand today, the execution of awards passed by ITLOS and the arbitral tribunals are left solely to the good faith obligations undertaken by the concerned State The State that is adversely affected, therefore, may only secure compliance through persuasion and Given the increasing geopolitical rivalry in the

Indo-Pacific region, this translates into a potential for a paralysis of the UNCLOS mechanisms.

Amending the UNCLOS to incorporate an enforcement mechanism may be solution. The Convention permits such amendments through a procedure enumerated in of Part XVII (Final Provisions). Such an amendment could be adopted either through convening a conference (Regular Procedure), or through formal written communication (Simplified Procedure), as indicated in flow-chart below.

The Geopolitical Dimension Despite being an active participant in the UNCLOS III (Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, 1973-82) negotiations and a State party to the UNCLOS, 1982, China declined to conform to its compulsory dispute resolution mechanism (UNCLOS, Part XV), citing the declaration that it made to the effect in August 2006.

While allowing for such declarations, UNCLOS provides its State-parties the latitude to choose what is best suited to their respective conditions and interests. However, such leeway ought not be used by a State party to absolve itself of its treaty o b l i g a t i o n s i n e n t i r e t y.

Flow Chart: Procedure to adopt an amendment

(UNCLOS Articles 312 and 313)

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EXCLUSIVE COLUMN For instance, by asserting its 'historic claim' within the “ninedash line” without an established State practice as provided for in UNCLOS, Beijing is clearly reneging on its treaty obligations.

China's legal position is being supported by its geopolitical (including geo-economic) power, which is diluting the objectivity of international law.

Ostensibly, like its oft- articulated 'dissatisfaction' with the Western-based global order, China seeks to shun the UNCLOS that is based on ancient Roman and Nordic maritime laws. It seems as if the Chinese are saying “don't impose Western-based laws upon China… as ancient Asian civilizations, China (and also India) did have flourishing maritime economic and cultural linkages within the Indo-Pacific region, which would not have been possible without existence of a robust maritime law… the ancient mariners of Asia were neither killing each other at sea, nor were their merchant ships colliding”. A dispassionate view holds such an argument to be substantially robust.

Nonetheless, this argument — and China's assertion of geopolitical power to further it — is indeed a risky proposition for the Indo- Pacific, and also for the wider international community. It is unhelpful to meet the objectives of the contemporary concept of 'Free and Open IndoPacific' — as an essential prerequisite for regional prosperity — that which was originally conceived in 2006 in India, and articulated by the Japanese Prime Minister in the Indian Parliament in August

2007.

During his address at the Shangri La Dialogue held at Singapore in June 2018, the Indian Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi said, “India's vision for the IndoPacific Region is…a positive one. And, it has many elements… We believe that our common prosperity and security require us to evolve, through dialogue, a common rules-based order for the region…. These rules and norms should be based on the consent of all, not on the power of the few. This must be based on faith in dialogue, and not dependence on force. It also means that when nations make international commitments, they must uphold them. This is the foundation of India's faith in multilateralism and regionalism; and, of our principled commitment to rule of law”.

This implies that the divergences in the interpretation of international law in the maritime domain, if any, would need to be reconciled through a consensual approach, and solutions found within the existing overarching legal framework, as represented by the UNCLOS. This goes beyond a mere 'sermon' and is a case of 'practicing what you preach'. No matter which political party forms the central government in New Delhi, as a satiated and status quo power, India has stood by the established international legal order almost as a fundamental tenet of its foreign policy. In October 2009, when Bangladesh invoked UNCLOS ( P a r t X V, S e c t i o n 2 o n “Compulsory Procedures

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Entailing Binding Decisions”) to institute international arbitration against India at the PCA, India willingly involved itself in the arbitral proceedings. Later, in July 2014, notwithstanding a PCA judgement that was adverse to India, New Delhi gracefully accepted the Tribunal's award. Such national policy approach is also in consonance with Prime Minister Modi's vision of Security and Growth for All in the Region (abbreviated as SAGAR, meaning 'Ocean' in Hindi language), which was enunciated in Mauritius in March 2015. The vision stands for collective economic development and security of the regional countries. It is premised on the realization that India can achieve prosperity only if its regional neighbors also prosper, which is best represented by the aphorism "a rising tide lifts all boats".

A couple of years before the resolution of the IndiaBangladesh maritime dispute, in 2012, Myanmar also settled its maritime boundary with Bangladesh through referral to the ITLOS. The other countries of the Indo-Pacific are also increasingly resorting to international arbitration to resolve their outstanding maritime disputes amicably, and in accordance with the UNCLOS. For instance, in August 2014, Kenya referred its maritime boundary dispute with Somalia to the ICJ. More recently in 2017, pursuant to a UN General Assembly resolution, the ICJ was approached to resolve the dispute between Mauritius and the UK over the status of Chagos Archipelago. In none of these cases has any involved party

EXCLUSIVE COLUMN rejected the jurisdiction of the concerned court. China's nonparticipation in the PhilippinesChina PCA case, therefore, stands out starkly as an aberration in the emerging geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific region.

The Way Ahead Ever since the 'Indo-Pacific' concept was renewed in 200607 to respond to the contemporary reality of emerging the security linkage between the two oceans, China has been the centre- piece of the 'Indo-Pacific' idea.

A c c o r d i n g l y, t h e m o s t appropriate regional geopolitical response to China should have been one of asserting nuanced and graduated persuasive and dissuasive pressures upon China. However, the governments of the Indo- Pacific countries could not comprehend this, much less implement it.

India's own apex leadership never fathomed the import of the Indo-Pacific' concept until June 2018, even though the Japanese Prime Minister articulated it in August 2007 in the Indian Parliament.

President Donald Trump d u r i n g h i s A s i a To u r i n November 2017, and its temporal coincidence with the launching of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD) led to polarizing the Indo- Pacific region, with the region presently facing the adverse

consequences in terms of being forced to choose sides.

This deleterious consequence needs to be neutralized though exerting subtle persuasive pressures upon China. In this regard, among other measures, international legal regimes like UNCLOS could be very helpful. Even though Beijing has been dismissive of the PCA arbitration instituted by the Philippines, the arbitral proceedings and its verdict have constructively served to exert substantial geopolitical pressures upon China. If the other ASEAN countries that have maritime disputes with China in the SCS were also to seek recourse to international arbitration against China, the weight of such pressures could be increased substantially.

The 'power' that China is using as its 'primary weapon' to challenge the established tenets of international law is also a source of its vulnerability. The more powerful a nation is, the more it needs to preserve its image and standing in the international community. For China specifically — which places much value upon 'face' owing to historic and cultural factors — going against t h e collective will of the international community is accompanied by substantially high costs in terms its regional and global influence China is thus likely to realise, sooner or later, that the transaction is not

'cost- effective'. Meanwhile, efforts need to be made at the global level to amend the UNCLOS under its inherent proviso (UNCLOS 312 and 313), such that the decisions awarded under the UNCLOS provision of “Compulsory Procedures Entailing Binding Decisions” are made enforceable through the UN Security Council, alike those taken by the ICJ. Concurrently, the countries of the Indo-Pacific region may need to undertake deliberations at multilateral fora, so as to evolve a common interpretation of UNCLOS with regard to freedom of navigation, such as in terms of the innocent passage of foreign warships in the Territorial Sea, and foreign military activities in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). This will prevent a scenario wherein China begins exploiting the 'fault- lines' among the Indo-Pacific countries in terms of the existing divergences in their interpretations of international law.

Disclaimer: Views and thoughts expressed are personal and solely belong to the

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EXCLUSIVE COLUMN

The future of ports and their role in achieving a sustainable future

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a t r i c k Ve r h o e v e n , Managing Director International Association of Ports and Harbors Looking ahead into the future is, in many respects, a challenging task, given the rapid pace of evolution in our society. A complex mixture of geopolitical changes, commercial strategies, digitisation and automation, decarbonisation and professional development will shape the future of the port sector. To help ports preparing for that future, the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH) established its World Ports Sustainability Program (WPSP) almost one year ago.

The Program is a platform for leadership and collaboration in such diverse areas as resilient infrastructure, energy transition, safety and security, community outreach and governance. With WPSP, we hope to the firmly establish the leadership of ports to deliver value to their communities in the years and decades to come.

Geopolitical changes and the rise of the Indian Subcontinent, Asia and Africa Short-term, the impact of tariff barriers, WTO rule-breaking and political upheaval on world trade should not be underestimated in terms of their influence on the maritime industry in fifty years’ time. Nonetheless, continued exponential growth in intra-Asian trade and the trades between the Indian Subcontinent and Asia as well as the expansion of Chinese interests across continents with its ambitious Belt and

Road vision will transform the geopolitical map by the second half of this century. Population growth in these regions will redraw principal seaborne trade lanes.

India is the second most populated country in the world with nearly a fifth of the world's population. In its latest World Economic Outlook, the IMF said India will grow 7.3% in 2019 and 7.4% in 2020 making its the world's fastest growing large economy.

Of 1.03 billion people living in Africa, 50% are under 20 years old and 40% live in cities. By 2020, 504 million Africans will form the continent’s workforce.

China has already made its mark on the continent with its infrastructure investments in Africa’s ports and hinterland connections along with negotiating favorable trade accords resulting in a subsequent steep rise in trade between China and the African continent.

Rationalization and consolidation Nearly every segment of the global supply chain seeks to rationalise its operations through mergers or strategic alliances. This includes shipping lines, terminal operators and shippers. Port authorities remain the one notable exception to farreaching cooperative arrangements, at least in relative terms, vis-à-vis other other economic actors in the supply chain.

More consolidation of port authorities will become

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Patrick Verhoeven Managing Director International Association of Ports and Harbors

inevitable in future, given the search for scale and scope economies, but also environmental and societal pressures. Land is a scarce good and competition for land use is therefore very high Examples of consolidation at the port authority level have started emerging. The Belgian ports of Ghent and Zeeland merged into the ‘NorthSea Port’ last year with other recent mergers including those of Hamina and Kotka in Finland, and the state-owned port companies of Ningbo and Zhoushan in China. A far-reaching cooperation agreement, as opposed to a merger, was reached between the ports of Seattle and Tacoma in the United States; it joined the two marine cargo operations.

These are examples of bottom-up cooperation. In contrast, the recent reform of

EXCLUSIVE COLUMN the Italian port system, which share sensitive data, and the reduced the number of port willingness of the port authorities authorities from 25 to 14, is a top- and their governing bodies to encourage or even impose this down case. openness .

What currently complicates farreaching forms of cooperation Decarbonisation and the push between port authorities are towards the circular economy public ownership and related institutional impediments. An The IMO’s 2020 sulphur cap and important pre-condition for 2050 target for greenhouse gas successful cooperation projects reductions heralds the start of a therefore lies in ensuring greater structured approach towards capping harmful emissions that autonomy for port authorities. will ensure a very necessary adjustment to shipping status as Digitisation and automation the world’s 6th largest emitter, In 50 years, what the industry is were it to be a country . With c u r r e n t l y d e s c r i b i n g a s UNCTAD’s Review of Maritime disruptive technologies and Transport predicting compound innovations will have become annual growth of 3.2 % for widely adopted and transform seaborne trade between now the way cargo and passenger and 2022, the industry will be traffic is handled by ports and forced to act. their operators. Digitisation will most likely provide the impulse After an initial surge of interest t o w a r d s e f fi c i e n c y four years ago that then waned, improvements in terms of vessel the use of LNG as an alternative arrival planning, time at berth, to heavy fuel oil for bunkering a n d l o a d i n g / d i s c h a r g e has now seen genuine advances with the first offshore and cargo productivity. vessels operating on LNG, with Automation will emerge, albeit ultra large containerships and less rapidly with the construction gas carriers now being ordered of highly sophisticated greenfield with duel fuel engines. The o p e r a t i o n s l i k e t h e A P M emergence of alternative, clean, Terminals facility in Maasvlakte non-carbon fuels like hydrogen i n R o t t e r d a m . C a p i t a l and methanol will also power the expenditure and the challenges ships of the future within 50 of fully automating brownfield y e a r s . H o w f a s t t h a t sites located near port city transformation takes place will centres will take much longer to depend on the willingness of owners and the preparedness of change. oil and gas majors, and We may reach a point where innovators alike to invest in fuel automation and real time data c e l l t e c h n o l o g y a n d handling between port players infrastructure in ports.It will also converge with the application of d e p e n d o n c o n t a i n e r s h i p a r t i fi c i a l i n t e l l i g e n c e a n d owners de-escalating the fight predictive forecasting using big for size based on alleged data collated from devices economies of scale, where 80% throughout the port, e.g., the of energy is consumed by 20% ‘internet of things’. Speed oflargest cargo vessels. ofdevelopment will depend on the readiness of the port and We can also expect a growing number of initiatives in the field of logistics players themselves to the ‘circular economy’

, whereby port authorities work together with their industrial clusters to generate their own energy and give new economic purpose to waste products; one example is waste water being used to cool industrial installations, which can be deployed for urban heating purposes.

Port professional development and attracting new young talent Education and the development of young port professionals in the next 50 years will determine success in transforming the i n d u s t r y. T h e q u a l i t y o f accelerated skills development will have to aim at changing an age and gender demographic, which currently shows 89 and 91 percent of positions occupied by males at respective directorship and C-levels, and a skew towards seniority versus performance-based promotion and job rotation .

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EXCLUSIVE COLUMN A welcome initiative is the production last year of the ‘Guidelines to Shipping Companies on Mental Health Awareness’ by the UK Chamber of Shipping, RMT, and Nautilus International. These guidelines are a good place to start for any shipping, or ship management, company wishing to formulate a policy and adopt good practice on promoting good mental health for their seafarers.

However, one part of the guidelines does concern me – or rather the implementation of it. The guidelines state that company’s policy on mental health should include support for staff (seafarers) who are identified as having mental health issues.

The problem here is developing a culture on board and within the company where a seafarer feels confident about disclosing issues with their mental health without fear of being repatriated and losing their job – or returning home and not being able to find a new contract.

Roger Harris, Executive Director, ISWAN

Shipping companies need to support seafarers presenting with mental health issues With the increasing awareness of the importance of the mental wellbeing of seafarers, more needs to be done to change the culture in shipping so there is more openness and less stigma about mental health.

We are seeing, quite rightfully, an increase in the interest in, and awareness of, the mental health of seafarers. Much of the growing awareness has come from the general recognition that ‘good’ mental health is just as important as good physical health. According to the World Health Organisation, one in four people in the world will be affected by mental or neurological disorders at some point in their lives. Thankfully, around the world, more employers, governments, unions, and civil society organisations are trying to do something about this by breaking down stigma and allocating more resources to promote mental wellbeing. In the maritime industry many ‘good’ shipping companies are also beginning to recognise this and are paying more attention to the mental wellbeing of their crews. There are extra pressures on seafarers including long voyages, separation from family and friends, lack of shore leave, smaller crews, and fatigue and these all have a negative impact on the mental wellbeing of seafarers.

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Obviously, if a seafarer is experiencing a serious breakdown or psychotic episode then they need to leave the vessel to obtain treatment. But what happens if a seafarer doesn’t disclose that they are having problems with their mental wellbeing because they are afraid of the reaction of management or senior officers on board? The danger is that they have the potential to become a risk to the safety of the vessel and crew if they have a major mental health problem or crisis on board. Even in shore-based occupations people find it difficult to disclose. I was recently speaking to a young seafarer who works on a cruise ship with a good company and he told me that the crew having mental health issues would not visit the medical staff on their ship in case that they are immediately repatriated at the next port of call.

The industry has to look at the support it can give to seafarers that present with mental health conditions including allowing seafarers to sign up for new contracts when their mental wellbeing improves – after all most people do ‘get better’ and could work again at sea. For those that do have serious mental health issues and can no longer work on board, they should be supported in finding alternative shore-based employment.

The culture in the industry has to change so seafarers feel they can talk about their mental health and seek support from their employer without the risk of losing their job. Otherwise we may find ourselves having incidents where a crew and vessel are endangered because a seafarer hides their poor mental health condition and fails to carry out a critical function safely.

EXCLUSIVE COLUMN

SETTING SAIL ON Co2 NEUTRAL BIOFUEL

NORDEN has successfully completed the first test voyage with a large ocean-going vessel powered solely by CO2 neutral biofuel.

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ecarbonisation is in focus for the shipping industry and as a firm advocate of more environmentally responsible shipping, NORDEN has been investigating alternatives to the current fuel types. In September 2018, NORDEN made a breakthrough, when the company successfully completed a first: a test voyage with a large oceangoing commercial vessel, with the main engine powered 100% by CO2 neutral biofuel.

CEO Jan Rindbo says of the milestone: “NORDEN is proud to be at the forefront of testing and introducing carbon neutral fuel that truly makes an impact on the highly important agenda of reducing the carbon footprint of shipping”. He adds, “We have come a long way in increasing fuel efficiency and have among other things reduced CO2 emissions per tonne cargo transported on owned tanker vessels by 25% between 2007 to 2017. With the newly introduced IMO targets on CO2 reductions, however, it is evident that increased fuel efficiency alone is not enough. We need alternative solutions and with this test, NORDEN has shown a viable method to help us reach these targets.”

Successful test voyage The

test voyage, which follows months of planning and analysis, was conducted in cooperation with the RotterdamErik Carlsen, based GoodFuels - an Technical Manager, NORDEN innovative and market leading c o m p a n y i n t h e fi e l d o f “The test documented advanced sustainable fuels.

The test voyage was a ballast that second-generation trip from Rotterdam in the CO2 neutral biofuel is Netherlands to Tallinn in Estonia on the 37,000 dwt, a technically suitable 182-meter-long Handysize and thereby realistic product tanker vessel NORD HIGHLANDER. To compare a l t e r n a t i v e t o how the engine reacted to the comparable biofuel as an alternative to low s u l p h u r f o s s i l f u e l , t h e fossil fuel. During departure from Rotterdam the voyage, it was was conducted on fossil fuel.

After a visual inspection of the documented that the engine, the vessel switched to engine performed as biofuel. During the voyage, the e n g i n e w a s o p e r a t e d a t expected and the engine different loads for sufficiently was able to deliver its long periods to establish stable performance. After the power unrestricted” test, a final visual inspection of the engine was conducted.

T h e engin e was n o t When purchasing a carbon n e u t r a l t r a n s p o r t , b u t negati neutral transport solution, NORDEN guarantees and v e l y NORDEN neutralises the CO2 certifies that bio fuel covering a ff e c t emission from the transport by the CO2 emissions will be used ed by r e p l a c i n g t h e f o s s i l f u e l on NORDEN vessels. This will t h e consumed during the transport m a i n l y h a p p e n d u r i n g biofuel with an equivalent amount of o p e r a t i o n i n t h e N o r t h CO2 neutral biofuel. The bio European ECA (Emission .

How the concept works

fuel will not necessarily be C o n t r o l A r e a ) z o n e . T h e burned on the specific CO2 avoided carbon load will be

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EXCLUSIVE COLUMN

The challenge: Shipping and pollution

Adam Nielsen, Head of Industrial Bulk

“While we have only just concluded the test voyage, our early conversations with potential customers are so far very positive” “The test documented that second-generation CO2 neutral biofuel is a technically and economically suitable and thereby realistic alternative to comparable fossil fuel. During the voyage, it was documented that the engine performance is n o t a ff e c t e d , i . e . t h e f u l l performance envelope can be delivered without restrictions,” says Erik Carlsen, Senior Technical Manager, NORDEN, who oversaw the test.

With more than 90% of the world trade carried across the seas, the global shipping industry produces a significant amount of CO2 emissions. The shipping industry accounts for 2.2% of the world's total emissions, which corresponds to a country like Germany. In other words, if shipping were a country, it would be the sixth largest producer of Interest has already emerged, as Adam Nielsen, Head of Industrial Bulk at NORDEN tells NORDEN News: “While we have only just concluded the test voyage, our early conversations with potential customers are so far very positive.”

He adds, “If all goes according to plan, we will offer the first customer CO2 neutral transport in 2019 and scale up with larger volumes from 2020 when the new MARPOL regulations will be in force.

On offer to customers from 2019 Based on the research, NORDEN has concluded that second-generation bio fuel is a viable alternative to fossil fuels.

Several other test voyages have since been conducted, also NORDEN acknowledges that successfully. biofuel may not be the sole solution in the long run, however, “Now that we have proven CO2 believes that the carefully neutral transport as a viable chosen second generation alternative, I am convinced biofuels used can contribute m a n y c a r b o n c o n s c i o u s significantly to reducing CO2 customers within a foreseeable e m i s s i o n h e r e a n d n o w. future will demand this type of NORDEN will also continue transport,” says Jan Rindbo. working with GoodFuels to gain

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greenhouse gas emissions, only surpassed by the US, China, Russia, India and Japan. The IMO notes that over the past three decades, the shipping industry has grown by an average of 5% a n n u a l l y, a n d t h e r e b y predicts that without regulation, CO2 emissions from shipping could rise to 1.48 billion metric tons by 2020. further experience with biofuel as an alternative to low sulphur fossil fuel and is also considering other possibilities to lower the carbon footprint.

GoodFuels and the company's product has been thoroughly investigated by NORDEN, which found both the company and the product to be truly sustainable.

Among items of special interest is GoodFuels' sustainability board, consisting of leading NGOs such as the Carbon War Room and academics overseeing and monitoring GoodFuels' operations.

EXCLUSIVE COLUMN

Kåre Press-Kristensen, Senior Adviser, Ecological Council

“We appreciate that NORDEN is investigating specific solutions to the climate challenge. We need actions here and now to meet the climate goals of the IMO and we are proud that NORDEN takes action, taking a leading role in biofuels,and look forward to follow the development.”

Supporting the ongoing decarbonisation agenda is a focus for NORDEN. While the company acknowledges that biofuel may not be the sole solution in the long run, NORDEN however, believes that the carefully chosen second generation biofuels used can contribute significantly to reducing the company's CO2 emission here and now.

Taking a stand is vital, and this is also recognized by NGOs, including Kåre Press-Kristensen, Senior Adviser, Ecological Council, who states, “We appreciate that NORDEN is investigating specific solutions to the climate challenge.

We need actions here and now to meet the climate goals of the IMO and we are proud that NORDEN takes action, taking a leading role in biofuels, and look forward to following the development.”

NORDEN's CEO Jan Rindbo is a firm advocate of leading the way towards shipping becoming a more environmentally responsible industry. Jan Rindbo was likewise among the 34 maritime CEOs to sign a call for action in support of decarbonisation at the Global Maritime Forum in Hong Kong in October. The call to action is an important step in the transition to a decarbonised future, where focus

“Now that we have proven CO2 neutral transport as a viable alternative, I am convinced many carbon conscious customers within a foreseeable future will demand this type of transport”

for the maritime industry is an accelerated technological and business model innovation, further improving operational and technical energy efficiency, and a transition to zero-carbon fuels and new propulsion systems.

The IMO is working with the shipping industry to reduce the total greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% by 2050 and the call to action is an important aspect in raising awareness of the global goals. The maritime leaders at the forum noted that the move towards decarbonisation is an opportunity to develop new business through both technological and business model innovation, and that both carbon pricing and other mechanism should be explored to create economic value from greenhouse gas emission reductions.

To reduce CO2 emissions per transport work, as an average across international shipping, IMO aims to reduce the overall carbon intensity of the cargo transported per kilometre by the sector by at least 40% by 2030, pursuing efforts towards 70% by 2050, compared to 2008.

CEO Jan Rindbo.

What does CO2 neutral mean?

NORDEN is focused on delivering CO2 neutral transport. Shipping is by far the most CO2 effective way of transporting large amounts of cargo across long distances the least CO2 emission relative to the cargo NORDEN transports - yet shipping is responsible for large CO2 emissions.

Using biofuel, the transport becomes 100% CO2 neutral.

Furthermore, since the biofuel NORDEN use is derived from used cooking oil, a waste product, the CO2 neutral transport is also fully sustainable.

Using bio fuel onboard the vessels releases no fossil CO2, meaning it is 100% carbon neutral, “tank to wake”.

If the upstream CO2 footprint is included - from collecting the waste and processing into fuel - the biofuel gives a 8590% reduction compared to fossil fuels. The latter is the socalled “well to wake” CO2 footprint.

Disclaimer: Views and thoughts expressed are personal and solely belong to the writer.

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EXCLUSIVE COLUMN

FROM WASTE TO WAKE? FINDING NEW USES FOR WASTE PRODUCTS

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he CO2 neutral transport is based on use of secondgeneration biofuel, a waste product from food production considered as one of the most sustainable solutions by leading international NGOs. The fuel is 100% vegetable based, with no animal fat. GoodFuels, with whom NORDEN is working on the test voyage, is a market-leader in the field of advanced sustainable fuels, certified by both the RSB (Roundtable of Sustainable Biomaterials) and ISCC-EU scheme (International Sustainability - Carbon Certification). GoodFuels has a proven HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oil) track record since 2007 and strict sustainability criteria throughout the whole supply chain. The company's sustainability principles include the product being waste and residue based, having no competition with food and no deforestation or biodiversity loss.

D i r k K r o n e m e i j e r, C E O a n d Founder, GoodFuels: “We want to

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greatly thank NORDEN for being a pioneer and joining us in this crucial step in developing a carbon-busting solution that is scalable, truly sustainable, technically compliant and, crucially, affordable. In our journey so far we have focused on applying widescale use of bio marine gas oil (MGO) equivalent biofuel, however for over three years we have been working to develop a bio-Fuel Oil (BFO) opportunity. Its arrival in the market is further supported by the dual prospect of impending lower sulphur and carbon legislation; offering an almost zero carbon and SOx alternative to HFO, and VLSFO, 0.5% blended fossil fuel, which will be prevalent in the market post 2020.”

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Dirk Kronemeijer, CEO, GoodFuels, thanks NORDEN for being a pioneer and joining the company in bringing the product to market

“We want to greatly thank NORDEN for being a pioneer and joining us in this crucial step in developing a carbonbusting solution that is scalable, truly sustainable, technically compliant and, crucially, affordable”

EXCLUSIVE COLUMN

When Indian ships carried more than just goods

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nce upon a time it was only the Merchant Navy that offered you the opportunity to travel around the world. Those were the days when travel opportunities were limited and when getting a Passport was like getting a PhD in astro physics. The lure of adventures on the high seas, coupled with the possibility of a ive or even a six- igure salary attracted many youngsters to make a career in the Merchant Navy.

The Merchant Navy is different from the regular navy in the sense that it is a commercial service, as opposed to the Indian navy, which is largely involved in the defense of the nation. The Merchant Navy is the backbone of international trade, carrying cargoes of all types across the world. Merchant ships employ a huge number of Seamen who are engaged to operate ships that carry and deliver goods from one country to another. Without the merchant navy, much of the import-export business of the world would come to a grinding halt!

Cap. Madhav Das(Master Mariner) Executive Director Maritime Central Chennai

or that Vasco da Gama “discovered” India. According to them the people already living on the land did not matter. This is matched by the Indian 'Marxist historian' bias against Indian culture.

Indians were in a limited sense, participants of the sea borne trade to Europe, Asia and Africa. They built ships, navigated the sea, and held in their hands many of the threads of international commerce, whether carried overland or by sea. In Sanskrit books we constantly read of merchants, traders and men engrossed in commercial maritime pursuits. The indirect evidence afforded by the presence of Indian products in other countries coincides with the direct testimony of Sanskrit literature to establish the fact that the ancient Hindus were a commercial people.”

Indian traders would set sail from the Southern port of Mahabalipuram, carrying with them cinnamon, pepper and bits of their civilization to the shores of Java, Cambodia and Bali. Like the Western world, the Indian world also stretched beyond its physical India is not a country with a long tradition of modern border, though India has never used any violence to era seafaring no matter what the historians say. spread her in luence.

However in the not so distant past Indian's did take to the sea to carry out limited trade with nearby nations. Knowledge of the lands, customs, and culture of the Does the presence of Hinduism in some parts of South people around India will help us become better East Asia con irm it? Western scholars have often Mariners, world citizens and help us better completely underestimated India's achievement with understand others. Indian of icers aboard ships are regard to ocean commerce, shipbuilding, navigation, like of icers in the Foreign Service. Seaman can spread and sea travel. Some scholars believed it was the news about India and its peaceful rise in the world. exclusive domain of Christian and Arab travelers The world would be hard pressed to point out to an hence, the claim that Columbus “discovered” America Indian military invasion of any other country.

Disclaimer: Views and thoughts expressed are personal and solely belong to the writer.

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EXCLUSIVE COLUMN

Leading the Conservation Narrative in the Indian Ocean Region – Developing India's Strategy in Building a Regional Framework for Oceans Governance Ms. Ipshita Chaturvedi Beyond the threshold of a country's territorial sovereignty at sea, the Partner, C&C Advisors National Maritime Foundation(NMF) waters are deemed international and commonly called the high seas, or areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ), where no individual country c an exercise its exclusive rights. Negotiations on how to conserve and s ustainably manage biodiversity in the high-seas for many decades c ulminated in a new oceans treaty in 2015, now called the “Internationally B inding Legal Instrument” (ILBI). This comes under the wider umbrella of t he UNCLOS and will exclusively focus on conservation and management of marine genetic resources and designation of marine p rotected areas. Many surmise that this new treaty was required since the mandate of the UNCLOS was mainly to protect countries' freedom to e xploit the high seas. That same freedom has now resulted in over-exploitation of oceanic resources and ocean acidification and hence, the world needed a new legal instrument to focus exclusively on conservation.

The main idea of negotiating an ILBI is to detail proposals of the elements that could comprise the treaty, such as conservation measures, environmental impact assessments and its components, marine genetic resources, capacity-building and the transfer of marine technology. However, international law under the UNCLOS, by virtue of the ILBI, is now making a distinction between living and non-living marine resources.

While the conservation of living resources is being negotiated under the ILBI, the International Seabed Authority (ISA) is the regulatory body in charge of granting licenses to nations for exploiting the deep seabed for non-living marine resources.

International waters around India are getting more contentious considering the number of countries having stake in the Indian Ocean rim. Understanding that as a developing country, India cannot curb resourceexploitation in keeping with our needs – present and future – it would still be safe to say that India is a dominant power bordering the Indian Ocean in southern and southeast Asia, and our stand – both national and international – counts. Which is why, we need to develop a comprehensive science, technology and policy framework which clearly articulates our stand on these matters. While the Indian presence is felt strongly in the ISA, our take in ILBI negotiations has left much to be desired. Not having a clear policy regime for conservation issues can have adverse effects on strategy as well. As an example, if we want to designate an area to be a marine protected area (MPA), we have to know in detail, the processes that lead to the designation as well as the legal meaning of an MPA. These processes are getting detailed in the ILBI meetings and India, unfortunately is on the back foot. Key conservation points that help in our geopolitical strategy as well as aide commercial interests could be woven into all current blue economy programmes since conservation has to be an integral part of “management” as well as commercialization of a resource.

Conserving a regional resource also gives a country soft power over it as the fiduciary of the resource – something that could benefit India greatly in the long run.

Disclaimer: Views and thoughts expressed are personal and solely belong to the writer.

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EXCLUSIVE COLUMN

Mahendra Singh (Chief Engineer)

Revival of Shipping Corporation of India

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he shipping corporation of India is our national carrier and it's our duty to ensure that it operates profitably. There was a supdt Mr s.k.ghosh (lovingly called gunda ghosh). He will come to the engine room, while the ship in Port, sharp at 0800 hr and ask me, why this job can not be done by ship staff.

Upon getting convinced, he will allott it to the workshop. We need to achieve this level of involvement. Sci must select it's officers and crew by themselves and not through any agent.

Select 5 ships, medically examine it's crew by a third party and if more than 20 percent are found deficient, sack the personnel manager and the doctor.

Check the consumption and requisition of spare parts for engine room and deck deptt. Economise here by ensuring that costly parts are not needlessly used. Stock taking of spares and ensuring zero pilferage is necessary. On older ships, Certain parts can be obtained from scrap yards like Alang. It is understood that for critical parts, original spares must be used by for parts like turning gear blocking valve, used spares in good condition may be used. Certain hydraulic cylinders for hatch covers can be used as also some solenoid valves, example, AC system.

Some spares can be arranged to be located at suitable ports in company warehouse in certain ports frequented by ships. Dry docking is expensive. On newer ships, with oil cooled stern tubes in good condition, underwater cleaning and photography can be used and extention from classification be obtained.

Chartering deptt has to be vibrant. Don't find the cargo and give to private parties for a commission. CMD must get this regularly checked.

Maritime training in India is largely bogus so a good on board training must be arranged by inducting good fitters from foreign countries. MTI powai needs to be strictly examined and bad faculty must be thrown out. the superintendents must go on short sailings to monitor condition of the ship with main engine in operation.

Calculate fuel and lubricating oil consumption and optimise them by required adjustments. Check the pollution and safety equipments and carry out audit plus training.

Disclaimer: Views and thoughts expressed are personal and solely belong to the writer.

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EXCLUSIVE COLUMN

General Principles on dismissal of seafarers

Subrat Kulshrestha Bh LegalEase Consultants (Advocate and Solicitors) Email: subrat@bheglease.co.in

The following article provides guidelines on dismissal of seafarers. The dismissal can be considered legal provided there is a just cause for termination. It is important to stress, however, that it is still a good practice to follow strictly the rules on procedural due process as non-compliance will inuence the courts to rule against the employer.

There are two (2) elements that must be present before a dismissal of seafarer can be held valid.

These are: 1. Just cause (substantive) 2. Due process (procedural) Just causes are enumerated in Standard Employment Contract and/or the relevant Collective Bargaining Agreement. This may not be exclusive as analogous acts my also constitute just causes. It is highly recommended that the acts/circumstances constituting just causes be entered in the vessels logbook which is the repository of the day to day

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transactions that transpires on board the ship. The Courts have fairly relied on the entries in the logbook because they were made by a person in the performance of a duty required by law (as in the case of a Master).

Procedural due process involves notice and investigation/hearing. This procedural aspect in effecting dismissal is essentially set out in Standard Employment Contract (Disciplinary Procedures).

The ďŹ rst written notice to be served on the seafarer should contain the grounds for the charges/infractions as well as the date, time and place for formal investigation of the charges.

There is no prescribed formality in conducting the investigation. What is essential is to give the alleged erring seafarer ample opportunity to explain or defend himself.

EXCLUSIVE COLUMN In any event, it is best to document the investigation proceedings in order to prepare for any eventuality.

The measures suggested are as follows: (a)Record or transcribe the proceedings and prepare minutes thereof. Have all persons who took part therein sign the minutes including the seafarer involved. (b)Enter in the vessels logbook what transpired during the investigation including seafarer's summary of s t a t e m e n t s / d e f e n s e s , witnesses presented, documents submitted, seafarer's admission, etc.

The second written notice is the notice of dismissal to be served on the erring seafarer stating the reasons thereto.

Please note that seafarer may contest the Master and/or employer's decision to dismiss him by filing an illegal termination case before the labor tribunal. As the burden of proof that the termination was valid rests on the employer and considering the difficulty in retrieving documents from a vessel and/or locating a crew to testify in the court, it is good policy for the employer to gather the evidence in support of a prospective defense against an illegal termination claim.

The evidence needed for such purpose may vary depending on the circumstances of each case but based on experience; some of the useful documents are the following: 1. Vessel's logbook extracts 2. Master's or Incident report 3. Affidavit/statements of crewmembers/other witnesses attesting to the offenses committed by the seafarer 4. Minutes of investigation proceedings 5. First and second notices (as discussed above) 6. Performance rating reports 7. Company policy 8. Police and other authorities' report of the incident As the authenticity and genuineness of these pieces of evidence may become an issue in the future, it is preferable that the same be authenticated or attested by the nearest Consulate of the concerned country or Labor Attaché.

While observance of procedural due process is imperative, it does admit of certain exceptions. One exception that can be considered is when observance of procedural due process will result in a clear and existing danger to the safety of the crew and vessel.

In conclusion, it is important to observe the substantive and procedural aspects of termination. This will give the employer a fair chance of defending itself should the seafarer decide to challenge the validity of his termination.

Disclaimer: Views and thoughts expressed are personal and solely belong to the writer.

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NEWS

Two-day Regional Maritime Safety Conference 2019 begins in Mumbai

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he Regional Maritime Safety Conference 2019, being organized by India for the first time, commenced in Mumbai today. The two-day conference will deliberate on issues related to assuring maritime safety in the India-ASEAN subregion, safeguarding our shores and promoting maritime trade. The conference will address a range of issues that affect regional maritime safety, including transport safety, maritime law, ship building, transportation of hazardous goods, marine oil spill, pollution and environmental safety. The inaugural edition is being organized by the National Maritime Foundation (NMF), in coordination with Ministry of Shipping and Ministry of External Affairs.

Addressing the gathering, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Shipping, Shri Sanjay Bandopadhyay said that with the linking of domestic crude oil prices with prices of international crude, India is witnessing a growth in coastal shipping and inland waterways. Our ports have seen growth in movement of fertilizers, food grains, automotive, and other bulk materials.The number of seafarers grew by 35% in 2018 as compared to 2017; there has been a growth also in the blue economy which is related to the maritime sector, said Shri Bandopadhyay.

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He said that maritime trade is very important for India, which has a coastline nearly 7,500 km long and that India has been engaging very actively with ASEAN countries in the maritime sector. He stated that the concept of Sagarmala – port-led development in the region – has given a special impetus to maritime trade and commerce.

The Additional Secretary said that along with growth, safety and security too needs to be ensured. He stated that sustainable development in shipping and ports is a challenge that needs to be addressed. He said that the introduction of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) low sulphur regulations for marine fuel oil, which comes into effect from January 1, 2020, is a challenge for the region. He informed that new regulations are being developed, and that the IMO Sub-Committee on Environment is deliberating on implementation of the regulations.

Joint Secretary, ASEAN, Ministry of External Affairs, Shri Anurag Bhushan said that India’s relationship with ASEAN countries has gone a long way from a central partner in 1992 to summit partner. He said that the turnaround came in 2014 when Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi initiated the Act East Policy where by a policy underpinned by concrete actions and deliverables was adopted by both sides.

NEWS He said that the partnership has blossomed on the all three pillars of polity and security, economy and sociocultural dimensions. The high point of the partnership was when India hosted all ten leaders of the ASEAN countries at the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit in New Delhi on January 25 – 26, 2018, stated the Joint Secretary. He said that various initiatives have been taken since then to further cooperation in maritime sector, centered largely on the blue economy. Two workshops on blue economy were held and the deliverables of the workshops were summarized in ten recommendations which have been submitted by India to the foreign ministers of the ten ASEAN countries, said Shri Bhushan. Three conferences on maritime security and cooperation have been held under the aegis of East Asia Summit as well. He expressed hope that the Maritime Safety Conference would be able to formulate recommendations and solutions for India, ASEAN countries and other participating countries to ensure a safer and cleaner maritime environment.

Chairman, National Maritime Foundation and Former Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral RK Dhowan, PVSM, AVSM, YSM (Retd.) said that globalization has resulted in vulnerability of the oceans; the Indian Ocean is the third largest water body of the world and countries on the rim of the ocean are home to nearly one-third of humanity. Noting that maritime trade and transportation has increased, the Chairman said that we need to track and hone the Safety of Life at Sea Convention, Voluntary IMO Member State Safety

Audit Scheme (VIMSAS) and the III code of IMO. He said that there is a need for greater interaction between various constructs and structures in the region, such as SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region), Indian Ocean Rim Association, Indian Ocean Naval Symposium, ASEAN, East

Asia Summit and Western Pacific Naval Symposium.

The Chairman underlined the importance of effective information-sharing arrangements. in enhancing maritime domain awareness. He informed that India has created a significant network by linking up Automatic Identification System Network, Coastal Radar Stations and 51 stations of the Navy and the Coast Guard into Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC), set up by the Indian Navy in 2014. The Indian Navy has set up the Information Fusion Centre in 2018. Both these contribute significantly in improving maritime domain awareness, said Admiral Dhowan.

He added that India has entered into technical agreements with a large number of countries, including ASEAN countries, for exchange of white shipping information.

Stating that indiscriminate pollution of seas is turning extreme climatic conditions into natural disasters, the Chairman called for optimal utilization of resources for ensuring sustainable development of oceans. He said that the UN document, “Transforming our World – Agenda 2030” and Sustainable Development Goals, especially SDG-14 provide a template for conservation of oceanic resources. Speaking on oil spills, the Chairman said that there is a need to harmonize the South Asia Seas Programme and East Asia Seas Programme; this is an avenue for cooperation between India and ASEAN, for improving maritime environment safety and thereby helping ensure clean and healthy oceans for f u t u r e generations, s a i d t h e Chairman.

Expressing the n e e d f o r sustainable fishing, he added that deep sea sustainable fishing, a focus a r e a f o r N a t i o n a l Fisheries Policy 2017, is a n o t h e r avenue for India – ASEAN cooperation.

The Chairman hoped that the conference will result in formulation of concrete action plans for India – ASEAN cooperation in advancing maritime safety in the region, which he said has emerged as a centre of economic and strategic development in the maritime domain.

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NEWS Coast Guard Commander (Western Seaboard), ADG K. Natarajan, PTM, ATM said that the conference addresses key maritime issues which are vital for sustainable development of the India-ASEAN subr e g i o n .

He said that we need to collectively develop strategies for safe harnessing and conservation of oceans. Speaking of the importance of ecologically judicial exploitation of oceans and safe operations, the Commander made reference to UNCLOS 1982 and Coast Guard Act 1978. The Coast Guard has been involved in ocean peace-keeping initiatives with international maritime agencies and informationsharing agreements in cooperation with countries in the region, said Shri Natarajan.

Informing that Coast Guard is the National Coordinating Agency for maritime search and rescue, the Commander said that the Coast Guard has established systems to augment its capabilities. With reduction in search component with advancement of technology, the rescue component has increased.

The Indian Coast Guard has saved more than 10,000 lives, saving one precious life every second day, said the Commander.

\The Commander recalled that India has played an active role in setting up information-sharing centres and in the functioning of the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP). He said that the cooperative framework has signiďŹ cantly reduced the threat of piracy and armed robbery in the region, paving the way for safer seas.

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While focusing on the need for sustainable exploitation to prevent ecological imbalance, the Commander said that there is an urgent need to address regulations governing carriage of safety equipment by ďŹ sher-folk as preventive mechanism.

Speaking of the threat of oil spills, he informed that the Indian Coast Guard has assumed the responsibility of Central Coordinating Authority for oil response in maritime zones of India. Under the National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan, the Coast Guard has both developed its own capability and has been guiding government agencies as well. The organization is also committed to regional cooperation. He said that the Government last year approved the signing of an MoU between India and South Asian Cooperative Environment Programme (SACEP) and nominated Indian Coast Guard as the competent national authority and contact point for implementation of Regional Oil Spill Contingency Plan. He expressed the hope that the conference will lead to a strengthening of the regional cooperative mechanism for safe, secure and cleaner seas.

D i r e c t o r, N a t i o n a l M a r i t i m e Foundation, Vice Admiral (Retd.) Shri Pradeep Chauhan welcomed the delegates to the conference.

NEWS

Reducing Crude Oil and Gas Imports The import reduction strategy of the Government includes increasing production of oil and gas, improving energy efficiency and productivity, d e m a n d s u b s ti tu ti o n , i m p r o v i n g r e fi n e r y processes and promotion of bio and alternate fuels. The major policy initiatives taken by Government during the last four years to enhance production include finalization of Hydrocarbon Exploration Licensing Policy (HELP)/ Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP), formulation of Discovered Small Field (DSF) Policy, survey of unappraised area of sedimentary basins, setting up of National Data Repository, policy framework for exploration & exploitation of unconventional hydrocarbons, streamlining of production contracts and fiscal incentives etc. Under Bid round-I of OALP, 55 blocks having an acreage area of 59,282 sq. km. have been awarded in October 2018. Under OALP Bid round-II, bid for 14 blocks having an acreage area of 29,233 sq. km. is launched on 7th January, 2019. Government has also taken a number of initiatives to encourage the use of alternative fuels and incentivize production of ethanol and Bio-Diesel. Government has notified the National Bio Fuel Policy 2018 to boost availability of biofuels and promotion of advanced biofuels in country.

The major steps taken for enhancing the production of Coal Bed Methane

(CBM) and Shale Gas in the country include: Ÿ Formulationof CBM Policy in 1997 for exploration and exploitation of CBM being natural gas. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Ministry of Coal in this regard. Ÿ Completion of four rounds of CBM bidding, resulting in allocation of 33 CBM blocks (including 2 nominations and 1 through FIPB route) spreading over 16,613 square kilometers. Ÿ Granting permission to Coal India Limited (CIL) and its subsidiaries to explore and exploit CBM from its areas under coal mining lease and dispensing the requirement of having additional License from Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. Ÿ Introduction of Unified Licensing Policy under Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP) wherein all types of hydrocarbon resources, both conventional and unconventional can be explored and exploited. Ÿ Notification of policy framework for early monetization of CBM gas, which inter-alia provides for marketing and pricing freedom. Ÿ Notification of policy framework for exploration and exploitation of unconventional hydrocarbons including CBM and Shale gas/oil in existing acreages under Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs), Coal Bed Methane (CBM) contracts and nomination fields.

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Water Conservation and Management should become people’s movement- Nitin Gadkari National Water Awards 2018 distributed Maharashtra, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh adjudged top three states in Water Manage Nitin Jairam Gadkari is an Indian politician and the current Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation in the Government of India.ment

rejuvenation of water bodies etc. are great challenges.

Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation & Road Transport and Highways & Shipping Shri Nitin Gadkari today distributed 82 National Water Awards in 14 categories jointly with Minister of State, Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal and Secretary, Shri U.P. Singh at New Delhi.

Addressing the gathering, Shri Gadkari said that India does not have a shortage of water, rather, the management of water is not adequate. He said that a need to institute national level water awards spanning all sectors was strongly felt to encourage people to play their respective roles in conservation of water. Shri Gadkari said that a new vision for entire water resource sector is required and National Water Awards is a good step in this direction.

Listing some of the steps which have been taken for effective management of water in India, Shri Gadkari said that 400 MLD water from Okhla barrage will be treated and will be used for Delhi through Wazirabad barrage. Apart from this, he added, that many projects have been completed under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMSKY). He said that preference is being given to piped irrigation instead of canal irrigation to conserve water and existing canals are also being concretized to avoid wastage of water.

On Clean Ganga Mission, he said that during Kumbh Mela the water was both Nirmal and Aviral and people of India enjoyed the cleanliness. The sighting of dolphins, turtles & birds in Ganga shows that the water quality of the river has improved.

While congratulating all the winners and participants, Shri Gadkari sought people’s participation in making the issue of water conservation a public movement. He also acknowledged that groundwater recharge,

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Minister of State Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal expressed his happiness over National Water Awards which have been resumed after a gap of 12 years and said that this is a very big step to spread awareness about water conservation.

While congratulating all the winners, Shri Meghwal urged them to motivate as many people as they can in their respective areas to use water efďŹ ciently. He urged the Ministry to hold National Water Awards every year and assured the participants that the next awards will be even better.

In his welcome address, Secretary Shri U.P. Singh said the country is passing through a critical phase as far as water resource is concerned. He said that per capita availability is now one-fourth as compared to Independence and management of water resources is the need-of-the-hour. Talking about the awards he said that around 376 valid entries were received from all over the country and good work should be rewarded. Shri Singh added that as there was a lack of a national level awards covering entire water sector for healthy competition among states, districts and local bodies, the National Water Awards have been instituted. He hoped that more and more people will come forward in future to participate in such events.

In total, the prizes were distributed in 14 categories including best district in six zones (with 3 subcategories of best district in groundwater recharge, revival of river and creation of water bodies), best state (normal/special), best village panchayat, best municipal corporation, best research/innovation/adaptation of new technology for water conservation, best mass awareness campaign, best TV show for promoting water conservation, best newspaper in Hindi/English/Regional language, best school, best institution for successful campus water

NEWS usage, best RWA, best organization for religious/recreational & tourism water uses, best industry for industrial water conservation and best water regulatory authority. The prizes include tarophy and citation in all categories. Cash prizes of Rs. 2 lakh, Rs. 1.5 lakh and Rs. 1 lakh for Ist, IInd and IIIrd prize winners respectively were given in some categories.

Maharashtra, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh were given first, second and third National Water Awards respectively in best state category. Shri Girish Mahajan, Minister for Medical Education, Wa t e r R e s o u r c e s a n d C o m m a n d A r e a Development, Maharashtra government and S h r i R a m S h i n d e , M i n i s t e r f o r Wa t e r Conservation and Protocol, Maharashtra government received the Award on behalf of the Maharashtra state. The Award for the best water regulatory authority was won by Maharashtra

Water Resources Regulatory Authority, Pune. A separate category of aspirational district was instituted to focus on water management in these areas. The Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation instituted National Water Awards to emphasize the importance of water resource management in India. The prime objective of these awards is to bring the best efforts being done in water conservation to the national from across the country and encourage all stakeholders including Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Gram Panchayats, Urban Local Bodies, Water User Associations, Institutions, Corporate Sector, Individuals etc. to manage their water resources efficiently.

Natural gas production The details of natural gas production, consumption and import in the country for the last three years are as under: -

The major policy initiatives taken by the Government during the last about four years to enhance production include, finalisation of Hydrocarbon Exploration & Licensing Policy (HELP) and Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP), formulation of Discovered Small Field Policy (DSF), survey of unappraised area of sedimentary basins, setting up of National Data Repository, policy framework for exploration and exploitation of unconventional hydrocarbons, streamlining of production contracts and fiscal incentives, etc. Under HELP/OALP, 55 Blocks having an acreage area of 59,282 sq. km. have been awarded in Bid Round-I in October, 2018. Under Round-II of this Policy, bids for 14 blocks having an acreage area of 29,233 sq. km. have been launched on 7th January, 2019. Under Discovered Small Field Policy (DSF) 30 contracts for 43 discovered small fields were signed in March, 2017. In addition, 59 more fields/discoveries have been offered in August, 2018 for bidding in DSF Bid Round-II. These discoveries are estimated to have 189.61 Million Metric Ton (MMT) Oil and Oil equivalent gas in place.During the last three years i.e. from 2015-16 to 2017-18,ONGC has made 24 discoveries and OIL has made 10 discoveries in Nomination and NELP blocks.

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Expansion of PNG and CNG coverage in the country Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) is the authority to grant authorization to the entities for the development of City Gas Distribution (CGD) network in Geographical Areas (GAs) as per PNGRB Act, 2006. PNGRB identifies GAs for authorizing the development of CGD network in synchronization with the development of natural gas pipeline connectivity/ natural gas availability. The authorized CGD entities develop the Piped Natural Gas (PNG)/ Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) network to supply natural gas to households, industrial and commercial units in their respective GAs. Upto the 8th CGD bidding round, there are 96 GAs in 23 States/ Union Territories (UTs) where CGD network is accessible. PNGRB has granted authorization for additional 84 GAs in 9th CGD Bidding Round. With the completion of 9th CGD Bidding Round, CGD would be accessible in 178 GAs covering approximately 280 districts spread over 26 States and UTs. PNGRB has also launched 10th CGD Bidding Round covering 50 GAs spread over 14 States and 124 districts (112 full and 12 part). As per PNGRB, after successful completion of 10th CGD Bidding Round, 70% of the country’s population would have access to CGD network.

Presently, Oil and Gas Public Sector Undertakings have total 59 overseas assets in 28 countries of which 23 are producing, 7 are developmental blocks, 25 are exploratory and 4 are pipeline projects. There are total 15 MoUs that India has signed with various countries for cooperation in the oil and gas sector.

With respect to Paradip-Haldia-Barauni oil pipeline (PHBPL), the executing agency has taken up preproject activities, such as statutory clearances and acquisition of Right of Use under P&MP Act. PNGRB has authorized Indradhanush Gas Grid Limited (IGGL) for the development of North East Gas Grid to connect eight states of North Eastern India. The executing agency has taken up Preproject activities such as statutory clearances and acquisition of Right of Use under P&MP Act. The executing agency has taken up the pipeline execution work of Jagadishpur –Haldia –Bokaro Dhamra Pipeline (JHBDPL).

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Expansion of Gas Pipeline Network Across the Country

Government has envisaged to develop the National Gas Grid and City Gas Distribution (CGD) networks in the countryto enhance the availability and accessibility of natural gas to public at large. At present about 16,788 km natural gas pipeline is operational and about 14,239 km gas pipelines are being developed. These pipelines have been authorized by Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) and are at various stages of planning/execution/Pre-project activities etc.With the completion of 9th CGD Bidding Round, CGD would be accessible in 178 Geographical Areas (GAs) covering approximately 280 districts spread over 26 States and UTs. PNGRB has reported that as per commitment given by various entities in the GAs approved for issuance of Letter of Intent (LoI) in 9th CGD bidding round, approximately 98,000 km of pipeline will be built. Completion of 9th round and 10th round of CGD network will involve more than Rupees one lakh crore of investment in the CGD sector.

NEWS

Indus Waters Treaty 1960 : Present Status of Development in India

T

he Indus system comprises of main Indus River, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej. The basin is mainly shared by India and Pakistan with a small share for China and Afghanistan.

Under the Indus Waters Treaty signed between India and Pakistan in 1960, all the waters of three rivers, namely Ravi,Sutlej and Beas ( Eastern Rivers)averaging around 33 million acre feet ( MAF) were allocated to India for exclusive use.The waters of Western rivers - Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab averaging to around 135 MAF were allocated to Pakistan except for specified domestic , non-consumptive and agricultural use permitted to India as provided in the Treaty.

India has also been given the right to generate hydroelectricity through run of the river(RoR) projects on the Western Rivers which, subject to specific criteria for design and operation is unrestricted.

PRESENT STATUS OF DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA To utilize the waters of the Eastern rivers which have been allocated to India for exclusive use, India has constructed Bhakra Dam on Satluj, Pong and Pandoh Dam on Beas and Thein (Ranjitsagar) on Ravi. These storage works, together with other works like Beas-Sutlej Link, Madhopur-Beas Link,

Indira Gandhi Nahar Project etc has helped India utilize nearly entire share (95 %) of waters of Eastern rivers.However, about 2 MAF of water annually from Ravi is reported to be still flowing unutilized to Pakistan below Madhopur. To stop the flow of these waters that belong to India for its utilization in India, following steps have been taken: 1.Resumption of Construction of Shahpurkandi project: This project will help in utilizing the waters coming out from powerhouse of Thein dam to irrigate 37000 hectares of land in J&K and Punjab and generate 206 MW of power. The project was scheduled to be completed by September 2016. However, following a dispute between the state of J&K and Punjab, the work on the project had been suspended since 30.08.2014.

Consequent upon agreement reached on 8 September 2018 between J&K and Punjab . The cost of the project is . 2715.70 Crore. Government of India vide order dated 19 December 2018 has approved the Central Assistance of Rs. 485.38 crore towards balance cost of works of irrigated component of the project. The construction work has now resumed by Govt of Punjab under monitoring of Govt of India.

2. Construction of Ujh multipurpose project: This project will create a storage of about 781 million cu m of water on river Ujh , a tributary of Ravi for irrigation and power generation in India

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NEWS itselfand provide a total irrigation benefits of 31,380 ha in Kathua, Hiranagar and Samba district of J&K apart from providing water for the district Kathua of J&K. The DPR of the project has beentechnically approved for the total estimated cost of Rs.5850 crore (July, 2017) . This project is a National Project and the Central Assistance of Rs. 4892.47 crore on works portion of irrigation component as well as the special grant is under consideration. The implementation of the project will be 6 years from beginning of the implementation.

3. The 2nd Ravi Beas link below Ujh: This project is being planned to tap excess water flowing down to Pakistan through river Ravi, even after construction of Thein Dam, by constructing a barrage across river Ravi for diverting water through a tunnel link to Beas basin. The project is expected to utilize about 0.58 MAF of surplus waters below Ujhdam by diverting the same to Beas basin for benefits of other co-basin states.

Govt. of India declared this project as National Project.

Water Conservation Fee Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) under Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation had notified revised guidelines vide Gazette notification S.O. 6140(E) dated 12.12.2018 to regulate and control ground water extraction in India, which was proposed to be effective from 01.06.2019. As per these revised guidelines, Water Conservation Fee (WCF) would be levied for use of ground water depending on the category of area, type of industry and quantum of ground water withdrawal. There was no provision for exemption from WCF to Government infrastructure, water supply agencies and mining projects. However, National Green Tribunal (NGT) vide order dated 3rd January 2019 has directed that the notification may not be given effect and has ordered Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF & CC) to constitute an expert committee by including representatives from IIT Delhi, IIT Roorkee, IIM Ahmedabad, CPCB, Niti Aayog and any other concerned agency or department to examine the issue of appropriate policy for conservation of ground water.

Water being a State subject, initiatives on water management including conservation and artificial recharge to ground water in the Country is primarily States’ responsibility.

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Steps taken by the Central Government to promote rain water harvesting in the country are as follows : l Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) has prepared a conceptual document titled “Master Plan for Artificial Recharge to Ground Water – 2013” which provides information about area specific artificial recharge techniques to augment the ground water resources based on the availability of source water and capability of subsurface formations to accommodate it. The Master Plan envisages construction of about 1.11 crore artificial recharge structures in urban and rural areas at an estimated cost of Rs. 79178 crore. This comprises around 88 lakh recharge structures/ facilities utilizing rainwater directly from roof top and more than 23 lakh artificial recharge and rainwater harvesting structures for conserving surplus r u n o ff t o a u g m e n t t h e g r o u n d w a t e r resources. It is estimated that annually about 85,565 MCM of surplus run-off can be harnessed to augment the ground water. The Master Plan is available in public domain and has also been circulated to the State Governments for its implementation. l The National Water Policy (2012) formulated

by Ministry of Water Resources, RD & GR, inter-alia, advocates conservation, promotion and protection of water and highlights the need for augmenting the availability of water through rain water harvesting, direct use of rainfall and other management measures. The National Water Policy (2012) has been forwarded to all State G o v e r n m e n t s / U Ts a n d c o n c e r n e d Ministries/Departments of Central Government for adoption. l CGWA has been constituted under “The

Environment (Protection) Act, 1986” for the purpose of regulation and control of ground water development and management in the Country. So far, CGWA has notified 162 areas in the Country for the purpose of regulation of ground water. l CGWA has issued advisories to States and

UTs to take measures to promote/adopt artificial recharge to ground water/rainwater harvesting. 30 States/UTs have made rainwater harvesting mandatory by enacting laws or by formulating rules & regulations or by including provisions in building bye-laws or through suitable Government Orders.

NEWS

Status of National Gas Grid The Government has envisaged to develop the National Gas Grid. At present about 16,788 Km natural gas pipeline is operational and about 14,239 Km gas pipelines are being developed to increase the availability of natural gas across the country. These pipelines have been authorized by Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) and are at various stages of execution viz. PreP r o j e c t activities/laying/tes ting/commissioning etc.

PNGRB has authorized GAIL to develop North East gas pipeline to develop approximately 750 km long Barauni-Guwahati pipeline as integeral

part of Jagadishpur –Haldia –Bokaro Dhamra Pipeline (JHBDPL) project which will connect North East region with the National Gas Grid. Further, PNGRB has a l s o authorized Indradhanush Gas Grid L i m i t e d (IGGL), a joint v e n t u r e company of five Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) i.e.

IOCL, ONGC, GAIL, OIL and NRL for the development of North East Gas Grid to connect eight states of North Eastern India.

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NEWS l This Ministry has circulated a Model Bill to all

l The Ministry of Rural Development in

the States/UTs to enable them to enact suitable ground water legislation for its regulation and development which includes provision of rain water harvesting. So far, 15 States/UTs have adopted and implemented the ground water legislation on the lines of Model bill. CGWB has taken up Aquifer Mapping and Management programme (NAQUIM) during XII Plan, under the scheme o f G r o u n d Wa t e r M a n a g e m e n t a n d Regulation. The Aquifer Mapping is aimed to delineate aquifer disposition and their characterization for preparation of aquifer/area specific ground water management plans, with community participation.

consultation and agreement with the Ministry of Water Resources, RD & GR and the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare has developed an actionable framework for Natural Resources Management (NRM), titled “Mission Water Conservation” to ensure gainful utilization of funds. The Framework strives to ensure synergies in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY), I n t e g r a t e d Wa t e r s h e d M a n a g e m e n t Programme (IWMP) and Command Area D e v e l o p m e n t & Wa t e r M a n a g e m e n t (CAD&WM), given their common objectives.

Types of common works undertaken under these programmes/schemes are water conservation and management, water harvesting, soil and moisture conservation, groundwater recharge, flood protection, land development, Command Area Development &Watershed Management.

l Model Building Bye Laws, 2016 circulated by

Ministry of Urban Development include the provision of Rainwater Harvesting. As per Model Building Bye Laws, water harvesting through storing of water runoff including rainwater in all new buildings on plots of 100 sq.m and above will be mandatory. Barring the States/UT of Manipur, Sikkim Mizoram and Lakshadweep, all the States have incorporated the provisions in their respective building bye laws. The plans submitted to the local bodies shall indicate the system of storm water drainage along with points of collection of rain water in surface reservoirs or in recharge wells.

Further, all building having a minimum discharge of 10,000 litre and above per day shall incorporate waste water recycling system. The recycled water should be used for horticultural purposes. l Department of Land Resources is currently

implementing 8214 watershed development projects in 28 States covering an area of about 39.07 million ha. under the Watershed Development Component (WDC) of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) principally for development of rainfed portions of net cultivated area and culturable wastelands. The major activities taken up under the WDC-PMKSY, inter-alia, include ridge area treatment, drainage line afforestation, soil and moisture conservation, rain water harvesting, horticulture, and pasture development etc.

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l CGWB is carrying out training programs and

IEC activities for capacity building and awareness creation among stakeholders on the importance of water conservation and rainwater harvesting for augmenting the ground water resources.

NEWS

Shri Dharmendra Pradhan hands over Letter of Intent to eligible candidates of Retail Outlet dealer selection 2018-19 Dharmendra Debendra Pradhan is a BJP leader and currently the Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship in the NDA Government.

Lakhs of jobs have been the OMCs at arm’s length from the selection created in the Petroleum process.

He said that the selection of Common man sector, says the Minister in the selection process is indicative of the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Shri Dharmendra Pradhan today rolled out the allotment of New Retail Outlets (RO) by Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) by handing over the Letter of Intent(LOI) to a few eligible applicants. He issued the intimation online by click of button, to over 2500 successful candidates, who can collect their respective LOIs from the OMC offices. At the same time, such LOIs were also issued at 12 other places in the country.

Public Sector OMCs had advertised for 78,493 locations for setting up Retail Outlets across 35 States/ Union territories, for which more than 4 lakh applications were received. Network expansion has been an important activity of OMCs for increasing the reach of petroleum products across the country.

The expansion will help them maintain their market leadership and expand the footprint in major geographical areas of the country. These OMCs already operate over 57,000 retail outlets presently.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Dharmendra Pardhan underlined the importance of technology and transparency, with the computerzed “draw of Lots/bids opening” for selection which was conducted with no manual interference for the first time. The hassles of manually submitting voluminous documents by the applicants, in support of eligibility and their scrutiny, was dispensed with.

The software application was developed by MSTC limited, a PSU under the Ministry of Steel, keeping

transparency, simplification of process, and availability of equal opportunity. With the allotment of present round of retail outlets, the pendency of over 5000 ROs, earmarked for SC quota, will also be completed. Shri Pradhan said that strike rate of over 30% in allocation of ROs is likely to be there leading to setting of thousands of ROs, and this will create lakhs of direct employment in these petrol pumps, besides opportunity for other associated and ancillary activities. He congratulated the OMCs for speeding up the process- the advertisements started appearing in November, 2018, bids were opened in January, and now the allotment process has already begun.

The Minister said that consumption of Petroleum products in the country is likely to continue to grow at around 4%, to meet the requirements of fastincreasing GDP. He said that in initial 60 years since independence, 13 crore LPG connections were given, and now the present government has given that many connections in under 5 years. He said that under the PMUY, 6.75 connections have been given to poor households. The Minister also said that allotment of so many connections has been accompanied with expansion of infrastructure like gas pipelines, setting up of bottling plants, distribution network etc, and all this has created large number of jobs. Shri Pradhan said that the Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone of about two thousand kilometre long LPG pipeline next week in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, which will be connected to Kandla, Gujarat, and this will be one of the longest such pipeline in the world.

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Exploration and Licensing Policy for Enhancing Domestic Exploration and Production of Oil and Gas Petroleum and Natural Gas & Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan addressed a Press Conference here today on reforms in Exploration and Licensing Policy for Enhancing Domestic Exploration and Production of Oil and Gas. Addressing the Press Conference, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan gave details on the policy reforms: Main highlights: i. Increasing exploration activities in unexplored/unallocated areas.

revenue share at Higher Revenue Point (HRP) has also been prescribed. d. The policy also provides for shorter exploration period: 3 years for onland/shallow water blocks and 4 years for deep water blocks. e. To incentivize early production, concession in royalty by 10% in Category I basins, 20% in Category II basins and 30% in Category III basins will be given if production is commenced within 4 years for onland and shallow water blocks (upto 400 meters of water depth), and 5 years for deep water (beyond 400 meters but upto 1500 meters of water depth) / Ultra deep water blocks (beyond 1500 meters of water depth) from the effective date of contract. f. Contractor will have full marketing and pricing freedom for crude oil and natural gas to be sold at arm’s length basis through transparent and competitive bidding process.

a. In basins (Category II and II basins) where presently no commercial production is there, exploration blocks would be bid out exclusively on the basis of exploration work programme without any revenue or production share to Government. Royalty and statutory levies, however, will be paid by Contractor. b. In case of windfall gain, the Contractor would be sharing revenue with the Government on a graded scale ranging from 10% to 50% on incremental revenue over US$ 2.5 billion in a financial year. c. For unallocated/unexplored areas of producing basins (Category I basins), the bidding will continue to be based on revenue sharing basis but with more weightage to work programme (70% weightage to work programme and 30% weightage to Revenue share). An upper ceiling of 50% on biddable.

¦ Expected Benefits: ¦ Massive boost to exploration

ii. Marketing and Pricing Reform for Natural Gas a. To incentivize enhanced gas production, marketing and pricing freedom has been granted for those new gas discoveries whose Field Development Plan (FDP) is yet to be approved. b. Fiscal incentive in the form of reduced royalty rates by 10% is also provided on additional gas production from domestic fields over and above normal production under Business as usual scenario. iii. Production Enhancement Scheme for Nomination fields a. Setting up coordination mechanism under Cabinet Secretary to expedite inter-ministerial approvals/clearances.

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¦ ¦

¦ ¦

¦

activities with greater weightage to exploration work programme, simplified fiscal and contractual terms Early monetization of discoveries also by extending fiscal incentives Incentivizing production including through marketing and pricing freedom Induction of latest technology and substantial capital More functional freedom to NOCs for collaboration and private sector participation Streamlining approval processes and promoting ease of doing busines

NEWS b. Simplification of approval processes including web based single window system and detailed Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs). c. Strengthening of DGH including delegating of powers for effective contract management and expediting approvals. d. Alternate dispute resolution mechanism through a Committee of eminent persons/experts to avoid arbitration.

Unprecedented reforms in last ve year in the energy sector have accelerated the work in delivering energy justice to the poorest of the poor, says

Shri Dharmendra Pradhan The 3-day India’s flagship hydrocarbon Conference and Exhibition- PETROTECH2019 was formally inaugurated by the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narender Modi today at India Expo Mart, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Shri Yogi Adityanath, the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister of State (I/C) for Culture Shri Mahesh Sharma, a large number of ministers from abroad and other eminent delegates were present on the occasion.

e and reasonable pricing. We have been able to simplify and reform our oil and gas sector policies and guidelines to attract new investors and inject new technologies. Schemes like Ujjwala and expansion of CGD have proved to be gamechanger in drastically ramping up access to clean

On this occasion, the lifetime achievement international award was presented by the Prime Minister to Dr Sultan Al Ahmed Jaber, Minister of State of UAE and CEO, ADNOC. Speaking on the occasion, the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Shri Dharmendra Pradhan said Energy occupies a very important place in Prime Minister’s vision for India. India has seen unprecedented reforms in the last five years in the energy sector. He said that these reforms have accelerated our work in delivering energy justice to the poorest of the poor by adopting the four pillars visualized by Prime Minister ModiEnergy access, Energy efficiency, Energy sustainability and Energy security as our guiding principles.

The Minister said that today, India’s voice as a large, reliable energy consuming nation is heard with respect. We have been able to convince the oil suppliers about India’s as well as all consuming nations justified stand for a responsibl

cooking fuel to millions of common people. Such initiatives are not only leading to energy justice, as envisaged by Hon’ble PM, but also business opportunities and addressing climate change as well as local pollution concerns.

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Ujjwala Utsav observed to celebrate the stellar role played by various stakeholders in making PMUY a success PMUY anthem – Ujjwala Bharat Ujjwala – composed by Kailash Kher release Oil industry today observed Ujjwala Utsav, celebrating the stellar role played by all stakeholders – District Nodal Officers, Policy makers, Distributors, and beneficiaries – in making Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) a resounding success.

The event was organised here under the aegis of Ministry of Petroleum &Natural Gas to encourage, motivate as well as felicitate all frontline field forcefor their outstanding contribution to PMUY.

Water Quality of River Ganga The occasion also saw the launch of the PMUY anthem – Ujjwala Bharat Ujjwala – composed and developed by eminent singer and film industry personality PadmaShriKailashKher. The PMUY anthem is available on online music platforms such as Amazon, Apple,Hungama, Wynk, Google Play, Saavn, and many others. The anthem aims to reach the Ujjwala message to every household in the country by its powerful and inspiring rendition.

During the occasion, the top three performers in three states which garnered the highest LPG penetration figures i . e .

J&K,Ch hattisga rh and Assam, w e r e acknowl edged and the respective Oil Marketing Companyofficers incharge of these states were felicitated by Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Dr. M. M. Kutty, Secretary, MoP&NG, and the CMDs of the three Oil Marketing Companies. The 24 top performing district nodal officers were also felicitated on the occasion for their commendable work during Gram Swaraj Abhiyaan and Extended Gram Swaraj Abhiyaan in more than 50,000 villages pan India.

A compilation of experiences from select stake holders across PMUY spectrum was also released on the occasion.

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Under Namami Gange Programme, a total of 136 sewerage infrastructure projects have been sanctioned and 36 projects have been completed so far; remaining projects are under various stages of implementation.

The Government has launched Namami Gange Programme covering short term, medium term and long term activities. Under short term activities, certain entry level activities which cover development of ghats crematoria & river surface cleaning activities etc have been taken up. Under medium term activities, existing Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) and Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs) are being upgraded and new STPs & ETPs are being established.

Beside, rural sanitation has been taken up in the villages on the banks of river Ganga. The long term action plan involves restoration of wholesomeness of river Ganga and maintaining the ecological & geological integrity of river. The Central Government approved the Namami Gange Program in May, 2015 as a five year program till 2020. However, efforts are being made to achieve substantial progress much before the target date.

Against the estimated sewage generation of 2953 Million Litres per Day (MLD) from the towns along main stem of river Ganga, the sewage treatment capacity in the towns along Ganga has increased from 1305 MLD (2014) to 1822 MLD capacity. In addition to this, STP capacity of 3577 MLD is being created in Ganga basin.

NEWS

New Ports under Sagarmala Project The Minister of State for Road Transport, Shipping and Chemical & Fertilizers Shri Mansukh Mandaviya in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today informed that 14 number of CEZs in 8 states have been identified under the Sagarmala Programme.In the state of Kerala, one CEZ namely “Development of CEZ in Kerala –Malabar” has been identified under the Sagarmala Programme.The project is in concept phase and appraisal/approval of various Governments/agencies is under progress.

The Minister further informed the house that 6 new port locations, namely – Vadhavan (Maharashtra,Enayam (Tamil Nadu), Tajpur (West Bengal), Paradip Outer Harbour (Odisha), Sirkazhi (Tamil Nadu), Belekeri (Karnataka) have been identified and no new port has been included in the Sagarmala projects in Kerala.

The minister also provided the details of funds allocated under Sagarmala scheme to Coastal States/ UT (from FY15-16 to FY18-19). The details are below

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NEWS

The Minister of State for Road Transport, Shipping and Chemical & Fertilizers Shri Mansukh Mandaviya in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today informed that the Government of India under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has decided to develop two Smart Industrial Port Cities one at East Coast (Paradip Port) and another at West Coast (Deen Dayal Port, Kandla) to promote Port-Led Industrial development by providing necessary infrastructure and allied services at one place for EXIM trade to boost up economy of the country.Development activities for various project components like setting up of Multi Modal Logistics Park, Industrial Park, development of Road Network and Truck Terminals are in full swing at both the locations In reply to another question Shri Mandaviya informed the House that the Ministry of Shipping has launched the agship Programme Sagarmala to promoted Port-Led Development in the country. Under this programme, more than 600 projects with infrastructure investment of Rs. 8.78 Lakh Crore have been identiďŹ ed since its inception. 105 projects of worth Rs. 0.16

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Development of Smart Industrial Port Cities Crore have been completed so far and 414 projects of worth Rs. 4.16 Crore are in advanced stages of implementation. projects of worth Rs. 4.16 Crore are in advanced stages of implementation.

Under Coastal Community Development component of this programme, 17606 persons have been trained and employed in various Ship Breaking Yards and 1143 personas have been placed in various companies in Coastal Districts out of the 1978 persons trained under pilot phase of Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gramin Kaushal Yojana-Sagarmala convergence. It is estimated that 40 Lakhs (direct) and 60 Lakh (indirect) jobs would be available after completion of all the projects of the Sagarmala Programme by 2025.

NEWS

Promotion of Shipping Route with Bangladesh Details of trucks sent directly to Bangladesh through sea route since October 2017 are given below:

BeneďŹ ts of sending trucks through sea routes are: (I) it reduces load on rail and road trafďŹ c. i. it saves fuel consumption and offers a greener alternatives to cargo movement. ii. it is cost effective compared to Road and Rail mode of transport. iii. it reduces carbon foot-print.

The Government is exploring new avenues for promotion of shipping,commerce and trade through coastal shipping. A Coastal Shipping Agreement was signed between India and Bangladesh in June 2015. The Standard to

Operating Procedure (SOP) between the two countries was also signed in November 2015 to implement the Coastal Shipping Agreement. As per the Agreement, sea transport from India to Bangladesh is treated as coastal movement, making it eligible for 40 percent concession on vessel-related and cargo related charges. Apart from above, Haldia Dock Complex under Kolkata Port Trust has been declared as a Transshipment Port for containerized cargo originating from/destined to Bangladesh to attract more cargo movement through searoute. Further to enhance the trade, an agreement on the use of Chittagong and Mongla Ports in Bangladesh for movement of goods to and from India was signed between the two countries in October 2018.

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NEWS

Sea Plane Services

Under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) UDAN version 3.0 of Ministry of Civil Aviation, the routes connecting the following six water aerodrome sites have been awarded to start seaplane and helicopter services:Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Guwahati River Front Nagarjuna Sagar Sabarmati River Front Shatrunjay Dam Statue of Unity (Sardar Sarovar Dam) Umrangso Reservoi

So far there is no proposal to start seaplane and helicopter operations on 1680 km. length of Ganga river for passenger transport

Lays Special Emphasis on Cleaning of Tributaries, Streams and Drains that Flow into Ganga MAR 2019 | SEA AND COAST 42

Shri Nitin Gadkari Calls for Intensive, District Level Monitoring of Projects for Cleaning and Rejuvenating River Ganga Shri Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Wa t e r R e s o u r c e s , River Development a n d G a n g a Rejuvenation, Shipping, Road Transport & Highways has called for intensive, district level monitoring and review of projects for cleaning and rejuvenating River Ganga. Addressing

District Ganga Committees of U tta ra kh a n d , U tta r P r a d e s h , B i h a r, Jharkhand and West Bengal through video conferencing yesterday, he said that cleaning of every stream, drain or tributary that flows into Ganga should be given as much priority as cleaning of the main

NEWS river. The Minister called upon the District Collectors and other functionaries to do a thorough survey to identify all streams, drains or tributaries that flow into Ganga, and initiate steps to treat the water of these bodies.

Underscoring the important role that the District Ganga Committees can play in rejuvenating the river, Shri Gadkari asked the officials to review the functioning of all sewerage infrastructure in their districts, identify problems and take time bound steps to rectify the same. Similarly, they should monitor all afforestation projects and identify polluting industries that need to set up effluent treatment plants.

Shri Gadkari also stressed upon expediting connection of houses to sewage networks so that sewage can reach the treatment plants, and the plants can run properly as per their designed capacity. He asked the District Ganga Committees to coordinate with the concerned authorities and take necessary steps in this regard.

Talking about the need for ensuring Aviralta or free flow of Ganga, Shri Gadkari called upon the District Collectors to facilitate the implementation of the e flow notification issued by the Centre in this regard. He also emphasized that the District Ganga Committees should mobilize public support and cooperation for solid waste management in their respective districts.

The video conference was organized to review the work being done by the District Ganga Committees, listen to any problems they may be facing and discuss ways and means to move forward. Each of the Ganga Districts have District Ganga Committees to carry out the assigned tasks at the district level, to take cognizance of local threats and needs of river Ganga, conceptualise necessary measures to ensure overall quality of water in the river and monitor various projects being implemented.

Shri U.P. Singh, Secretary, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Shri Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, DG, NMCG and other senior officials also attended the meeting.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi to dedicate Patna River front to people on 17th February In another important step towards Nirmal Ganga, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone for sewerage infrastructure at four towns in Bihar including Karmalichak (Patna), Barh, Sultanganj and Nauguchia. PM will also dedicate to people the Patna River Front that includes 16 ghats, 1 crematorium, 4.9 km promenade, community-cum-cultural centre, audio-visual theatre and eco centre build at a cost of Rs. 243.27 crore. This function will take place at Begusarai on 17th February 2019 at 11 a.m.

The sewerage infrastructure projects for which foundation stone will be laid include sewerage network of 96.54 km and 1 sewage pumping station (SPS) in Karmalichak (Patna), 11 MLD sewage treatment plant (STP), 3 SPS and interception & diversion of 3 drains in Barh, 10 MLD STP, 4 SPS and interception & diversion of 5 drains in Sultanganj and 9 MLD STP, 6 SPS and interception & diversion of 9 drains in Nauguchia. These sewerage projects costing Rs. 452.24 crore will prevent flow of 6.7 crore litre of sewage per day into River Ganga.

PM will also lay the foundation stone for many sewerage infrastructure projects in Bihar MAR 2019 | SEA AND COAST

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NEWS

United Arab Emirates accedes to air pollution and energy efficiency rules

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has become the latest State to accede to the IMO instrument providing rules for the prevention of air pollution from ships and energy efficiency requirements.

This brings the total number of ratifications of MARPOL Annex VI to 93, representing 96.6% of

The Netherlands ratifies ship recycling convention world merchant shipping tonnage.

MARPOL Annex VI limits the main air pollutants contained in ships exhaust gas, including sulphur oxides and nitrous oxides, and prohibits deliberate emissions of ozone depleting substances. It also includes energy-efficiency measures aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from ships.

IMO's treaty for safe and environmentallysound ship recycling has received another boost. The Netherlands has become the eighth country to become a Party to the Hong Kong Convention.

The Convention covers the design, construction, operation and maintenance of ships, and preparation for ship recycling in order to facilitate safe and environmentally sound recycling, without compromising the safety and operational efficiency of ships.

Under the treaty, ships to be sent for recycling are required to carry an inventory of hazardous materials, specific to each ship. Ship recycling yards are required to provide a "Ship Recycling Plan", specifying the manner in which each ship will be recycled, depending on its particulars and its inventory.

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NEWS work of agreeing which of these will actually be adopted to enable these ambitions to be achieved is now under way of agreeing which of these will actually be adopted to enable these ambitions to be achieved is now under way.

Mr. Lim said that the initial steps - the candidate short-term measures - are likely to include strengthening the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) and the Shipboard Energy Efficiency Management Plans (SEEMP) for ships, as well as gathering information under the fuel-oil data collection scheme.

In the mid-term (before 2030), he highlighted the need to make zero-carbon ships more attractive and to direct investments towards innovative

IMO Secretary-General urges all aboard for GHG reduction IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim has called for Member States and the entire maritime sector including shipping and ports, to come on board to achieve the ambitions set out in the historic IMO initial strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping, adopted last year. The strategy makes a firm commitment to a complete phase out of GHG emissions from ships, a specific linkage to the Paris Agreement and a series of clear levels of ambition, including at least a 50 per cent cut in emissions from the sector by 2050.

“We need to focus on technology transfer and research and development; we need expertise; we need IMO’s Member States to come together as one; we need the Member States to bring forward concrete proposals to IMO. We need to involve all maritime sectors – not just shipping.

Investment in port infrastructure is just as important,” Secretary-General Lim said. He was speaking at the High Level Conference on Climate Change and Oceans Preservation, in Brussels, Belgium (19 February). The strategy includes a series of candidate measures that might be applied to achieve these targets in the short, medium and long terms. The detailed

sustainable technologies and alternative fuels.

In this context, the reduced sulphur limit for ships’ fuel oil, which enters into force on 1 January 2020, “should be seen as not only a landmark development for the environment and human health but also as a proxy "carbon price" – increasing the attractiveness of lower-carbon fuels or other means of propulsion for ships”.

The Conference was opened by Mr. Charles Michel, Prime Minister of Belgium, and H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco.

On the sidelines of the Conference, SecretaryGeneral Lim met H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco. Monaco hosts the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO). IMO and IHO collaborate on a number of areas, particularly when it comes to the provision of hydrographic charts for ships.

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NEWS

Preparing for the sulphur 2020 limit IMO’s Sub-Committee on Pollution Prevention and Response (PPR) meets this week (18-22 February) at IMO headquarters. The meeting will focus on finalizing draft Guidelines on consistent implementation of the 0.50% sulphur limit under MARPOL Annex VI. The aim of the Guidelines is to assist in the preparations for and uniform implementation of the lower limit for sulphur content in ships’ fuel oil, which will take effect on 1 January 2020 and will have a significant beneficial impact on human health and the environment. The meeting will also consider draft amendments to MARPOL Annex VI (related to fuel oil samples and testing and verification of fuel oil sulphur content) and draft amendments to associated port State control and onboard sampling guidelines. IMO has already issued ship implementation planning guidance, to help shipowners prepare for the new limit.

Among other agenda items, the Sub-Committee will begin its work to develop measures to reduce the risks of use and carriage of heavy fuel oil as fuel by ships in Arctic waters. In addition, work on identifying appropriate control measures to reduce the impact on the Arctic of Black Carbon emissions from international shipping will also continue.

The Sub-Committee will address the IMO Convention for the Control of Harmful Anti-fouling Systems on Ships (AFS Convention), which prohibits the use of biocides using organotin compounds. A comprehensive proposal to amend annex 1 to the AFS Convention to include controls on the biocide cybutryne will be considered.

The meeting will also consider revisions to guidelines for the provisional assessment of liquid substances transported in bulk; and is expected to finalize the draft guide on practical implementation of the pollution prevention and response treaties (OPRC Convention and the OPRC-HNS

MAR 2019 | SEA AND COAST 46

Protocol).

IMO treaties ratified by Guyana Guyana has signed up to a host of IMO treaties supporting safe, secure and clean international shipping. The treaties cover a wide variety of topics including marine pollution, dumping waste at sea and responding to pollution incidents involving hazardous and noxious substances. Guyana ratified two key IMO measures designed to preserve bio-diversity – the Ballast Water Management Convention and another on use of harmful anti-fouling systems on ships hulls – as well as others covering unlawful acts against the safety of navigation and removing wrecks from the seabed. It also signed four instruments covering liability and compensation.

NEWS

Tackling barriers to Just-In-Time ship operation Implementing “Just-In-Time” (JIT) operations to cut the time ships spend idling outside ports can help cut emissions. This is good for the environment and can cut costs too. But there are a number of contractual and operational barriers to overcome before this could be implemented worldwide.

For some types of ships, such as bulk carriers and tankers, clauses in charterparty contracts currently act as a barrier to the uptake of JIT. For other ship types, such as container ships, contractual barriers do not exist, allowing the ship’s master to reduce speed without breach of contract, thereby enabling JIT to start being implemented today.

Focusing on those ship types that can already contractually implement JIT, IMO’s Global Industry Alliance to Support Low Carbon Shipping (GIA) brought together a wide range of industry stakeholders to discuss how to operationally make JIT a global reality.

Convening at IMO Headquarters in London (31 January), representatives from shipping companies, port authorities, terminal operators, service providers (including ship agents, bunker providers and tug operators) and other maritime organizations, discussed in detail how to tackle existing operational barriers.

The roundtable identified that for ports be able to provide incoming ships with a reliable berth arrival time, firstly a reliable departure time of the ship at berth needs to be achieved - which involves collaboration of many stakeholders.

The ship currently at berth will only depart after loading, unloading, bunkering, provisioning and other critical services have all been completed.

However, the terminal and other service

providers currently share very few updates about completion times.

The roundtable also identified the need for global standardisation and harmonization of data, which is currently being discussed under IMO’s Facilitation Committee, to provide ships with regular updates about the availability of berths, especially in the last twelve hours prior to port arrival. Timing the arrival can allow ships to optimise their speed – such as by slowing down providing further reduction in the carbon footprint of shipping as well as saving on fuel costs.

Additionally, it improves the safety of navigation and rest hour planning of ship crew and nautical services.

GIA members plan to hold another meeting later this year to discuss contractual barriers to JIT. The alliance is also in the process of preparing a real-time JIT pilot trial, in order to test the tangible solutions identified so far and gather experience. The GIA will submit a progress report on its work on JIT to IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) with a view to continue supporting IMO member States in tackling emissions from ships and reaching the ambitious emissions targets set out in IMO’s Initial GHG Strategy.

The GIA is a public-private partnership initiative of the IMO under the framework of the GEFUNDP-IMO GloMEEP Project that aims to bring together maritime industry leaders to support an energy efficient and low carbon maritime transport system. The GIA currently has 15 members, representing leading shipowners and operators, classification societies, engine and technology builders and suppliers, big data providers, oil companies and ports.

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NEWS

Feasibility Study on Inland Waterways To promote Inland Water Transport in the country, 111 - including 5 existing and 106 new- National Waterways (NWs) spread over 24 states have been declared under the National Waterways Act, 2016.

Feasibility studies have been undertaken by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) for the 106 new NWs. The Feasibility studies are shared with the concerned State Governments and based on their comments/suggestions and outcome of these reports, a view is taken to prepare Detailed Project Report (DPR) on the development of NWs. As per the Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) completed so far, 30 NWs have been found to be technically viable. Their list is given in Table-1 below Out of these 30 NWs, development activities have been initiated on 10 NWs listed at Table-2 below.

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NEWS 25

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NEWS

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NEWS

IWAI is undertaking development of National Waterways for purposes of shipping and navigation from the Government Budgetary Support (GBS)/Internal and Extra Budgetary Resources (IEBR) and multilateral funding provided by the Central Government. Necessary support is requested from the State Governments from time to time as per requirement for matters related to acquisition of land, law and order, water, electricity etc. which come under the purview of State Governments.

Oil and Gas Reserves in KG Basin Crude oil and natural gas recoverable reserve established by the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and private / joint venture Companies in the Krishna Godavari (KG) Basin is about 698 Million Metric Tonne of oil and oil equivalent of gas. Crude oil production in the KG Basin is about 19,190 barrels per day and Natural gas production is 9.8 Million Metric Standard Cubic Metre per day (MMSCMD).

The production cost of companies vary from ďŹ eld to ďŹ eld depending upon size of the reservoir, location, availability of surface facilities, stage of production, etc. As per available information, the production cost of crude oil in KG basin varies from USD 12 to USD 42 per barrel whereas in other basins it varies from USD 15 to USD 62 per barrel. Similarly, the cost of natural

gas production in KG basin varies from USD 4 to USD 8 per Million British Thermal Unit (MMBTU) whereas it varies from USD 2 to USD 8 per MMBTU in other basins.

The sale price of crude oil production in KG basin is based on international benchmark of crude oil price. The natural gas price is computed as per the formula prescribed under the New Domestic Natural Gas Pricing Guidelines 2014. However, in case of natural gas produced from Deepwater, Ultra Deep Water and High Pressure-High Temperature marketing including pricing freedom is allowed subject to ceiling under the extant Policy Guidelines dated 21st March, 2016. On account of this, sale price of natural gas during 2017-18 in KG Basin varies from USD 2.7 to USD 7.7 per MMBTU depending upon production from onland /shallow water blocks or Deepwater blocks.

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Can a kangaroo jump higher than a house?

Of course, a house doesn't jump at all.

A man asks a farmer near a field, “Sorry sir, would you mind if I crossed your field instead of going around it? You see, I have to catch the 4:23 train.” The farmer says, “Sure, go right ahead. And if my bull sees you, you'll even catch the 4:11 one

Doctor: "I'm sorry but you suffer from a terminal illness and have only 10 to live. “ Patient: "What do you mean, 10? 10 what? Months? Weeks?!”

Doctor: "Nine.”

Mother: "How was school today, Patrick?”

Patrick: "It was really great mum!

Today we made explosives!"

Mother: "Ooh, they do very fancy stuff with you these days. And what will you do at school tomorrow?”

Patrick: "What school?"

A wife goes to consult a psychiatrist about her husband: “My husband is acting so weird.

He drinks his morning coffee and then he goes and eats the mug! He only leaves the handle!”

Psychiatrist: “Yes, that is weird.

The handle is the best part.“

Police: “Open the door!”

Man: “I don't want any balls!”

Police: “What? We don't have any balls!” Man: “I know

Man to his priest: “Yesterday I sinned with an 18 year old girl.”

The priest: “Squeeze 18 lemons and drink the juice all at once.”

Man: “And that frees me from my sin?”

Priest: “No, but it frees your face from that dirty Sleep with an open window tonight! 1400 mosquitos like that. 420 mosquitos commented on it. 210 mosquitos shared this. One mosquito invited for the event. 2800 mosquitos will be attending the event.

Why is women’s soccer so rare?

It’s quite hard to find enough women willing to wear the same outfit.

4.php Great jokes and sayings.

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.

MAR 2019 | SEA AND COAST 52

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

In Spain, there is a tradition after a bullfight to serve the mayor the bull's testicles.

One day after a bullfight, the mayor asks the waiter: “Funny, why are they so small today?”

The waiter: “Today, sir, the bull won.”

A wife complains to her husband: “Just look at that couple down the road, how lovely they are. He keeps holding her hand, kissing her, holding the door for her, why can't you do the same?”

The husband: “Are you mad? I barely know that woman!”

Little Johnny asks his father: "Where does the wind come from?”

“I don't know.”

“Why do dogs bark?”

“I don't know.”

“Why is the earth round?”

"I don't know.”

"Does it disturb you that I ask so much?"

"No son. Please ask. Otherwise you will never learn anything."

Two elephants meet a totally naked guy. After a while one elephant says to the other: “I really don’t get how he can feed himself with that thing!”

Why haven’t you ever seen any elephants hiding up trees?

Because they’re really, really good at it.

Do you know why women aren't allowed in space?

To avoid scenarios like: "Houston, we have a problem!"

“What is the problem?”

"Yeah, great, pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about!"

I was sitting in a bar one day and two really large women came in, talking in an interesting accent.

So I said, “Cool accent, are you two ladies from Ireland?”

One of them snarled at me, “It's Wales, dumbo!”

So I corrected myself, “Oh, right, so are you two whales from Ireland?” That's about as far as I remember.

Three guys are stranded in a desert. By a stroke of luck, they find a magic genie lamp.

The genie grants each of them one wish.

The first guy wishes to be back home. Wish granted.

The second guy wishes the same. Wish granted.

The third guy says, "It feels very lonely here now, I wish my friends were with me…”

Wish granted.

I‘ve decided to run a marathon for charity. I didn’t want to do it at first, but apparently it’s for blind and disabled kids so I think I’ve got a good chance of winning.

Doctor: Hello, did you come to see me with an eye problem?

Patient: Wow, yes, how can you tell?

Doctor: Because you came in through the window instead of the door.

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News

We offer the Following Pre Sea, Basic safety Courses and Advanced STCW DG Shipping approved courses at our campus in New Delhi. The institute is housed in a specious place with good learning environment.

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Starting 1 Dec to 7 Dec 2018

FEEDBACK Good day readers greetings from the team of Sea and Coast. We sincerely hope that you are finding our magazine as a professional source of maritime knowledge and updates. It is our endeavour to meet the expectation of our esteemed readers . In our quest of getting you the most relevant news and updates , we request all our patrons and subscribers to provide their valuable feedback to our team so that we can bring to you ,what you feel can I add more value for you and our other readers.

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