Govt plans to infuse capital in SCI to boost fleet: Sarbanada Sonowal

New Delhi: The government is planning to infuse capital in Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) for fleet expansion through Maritime Development Fund, according to union ports, shipping and waterways minister Sarbanada Sonowal.

He said bids have been floated for procuring four medium-range product tankers.

The Centre is also planning to strengthen SCI by forming joint ventures with oil and dry bulk central public sector enterprises to meet the country's export-import shipping requirements.


"SCI is a strategic asset," Sonowal told ET, adding that the importance of this national shipping carrier is growing rapidly in the swiftly evolving geopolitical scenario.

Global supply chains have been facing sustained disruption after the Covid-19 pandemic, which was followed by the Russia-Ukraine crisis and the escalating tensions in West Asia.

This has led to periods of container shortages with shipping lines avoiding the Suez Canal, resulting in extended voyages and delayed shipments.

The latest disruption is the imposition of tariffs by US President Donald Trump, which upended global trade as exporters hurried to deliver their goods before the higher duties kicked-in.

"SCI and the Indian fleet need to be augmented on an immediate basis," the minister said, noting that SCI is procuring second-hand vessels in the near term with the delivery of new vessels scheduled 3-4 years down the line.

He said SCI is ordering new vessels with Indian shipyards in consultation with proposed JVs.

"The first tender for four medium-range tankers will be floated within October," Sonowal said, adding this will be for the proposed joint ventures of SCI with oil companies.

The union cabinet recently cleared a ₹69,725 crore plan aimed at boosting domestic shipbuilding.

This included the MDF with a ₹25,000 crore corpus to provide long-term financing for the sector. Besides, the Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Scheme (SBFAS) was extended till March 31, 2036 with an enhanced outlay of ₹24,736 crore.

In addition to these, the ₹19,989 crore Shipbuilding Development Scheme (SbDS) aims to support mega shipbuilding clusters, expanding domestic capacity to 4.5 million gross tonnage annually.