'Stringent eco-insurance mandates risk driving ships from Gujarat'

CONTAINER shipping lines are considering shifting from the Indian state-owned ports of Gujarat after state regulators imposed new rules demanding expensive insurance guarantees against shipping accidents.

"It's an absolute nightmare what they are asking for. The more stringent the rules, ships will be less inclined to call," said a spokesman for the Container Shipping Lines Association (CSLA), representing liners operating in India.

The Gujarat maritime board now insists that ships seeking entry to its ports must provide details on payment of premium for protection and indemnity (P&I) cover for the vessels, reported Livemint, a Wall Street Journal affiliate.

The ruling comes after the collision of the 2,314-TEU MSC Chitra and the 2,314-ton Khalijia 3 in the Mumbai ship channel on August 7, which closed the shipping channel to Mumbai and Jawaharlal Nehru ports and caused an oil spill, and which government authorities claim caused "a direct business loss of around INR100 crore (US$22.5 million)".

But other government authorities say the damage to the environment from the oil spill and the sinking of one ship and containers lost overboard has yet to be assessed, said YB Sontakke, a regional officer at Maharashtra Pollution Control Board. The shipping ministry spokesman said that the cost of removing the shipwreck and the sunken containers has also yet to be assessed.

Despite protests from the shipping community, the state government has announced it "won't relax or scrap" the new mandates.

"There is no question of scrapping or relaxing the rules," said SC Mathur, chief nautical officer at the Gujarat maritime board. "This is a long-standing problem the Central Government was not able to resolve, and we have enforced it in our state. If a vessel sinks or collides with another ship causing oil pollution, who will pay for the wreck removal and oil pollution that runs into millions of dollars?"

"Such a cover should include clauses accepting liability for wreck removal and oil pollution," he said. "Besides, ships above 25 years are required to submit a certificate from a classification society stating that no major structural changes have been carried out on it and that the original stability calculations remain intact."

But the CSLA spokesman said shipping would "come to a standstill if all coastal states start framing separate rules for entry of ships into their respective ports. The Gujarat maritime board does not have the capacity to assess and make rules like this when there is a central government body to do that job. The Director General of Shipping is India's maritime regulator."

India's exporters and importers lost an estimated INR150 crore from the collision, according to the Western India Shippers Association, the report added.
(Source:www.schednet.com)