Strict control helps bring down ship detentions

Office of the chief surveyor at the Directorate General of Shipping (DG Shipping) is a much relieved place, thanks to lower detentions of Indian ships abroad under the Port State Controls (PSC) norms. So far in this calendar year, only one Indian ship has been detained as against six detentions during the same period last year.

A vessel belonging to Tolani Shipping was detained briefly at an Australian port in March. "The detention was minor," said an official from DG Shipping. The officials are hoping that strict measures taken by them last year will bring down the detentions in the year substantially.

In 2006, nine Indian ships were detained at various foreign ports including Iran, China and Singapore. In 2005, India had 16 detentions while in 2004, 15 Indian ships were detained abroad. Every ship visiting a foreign port goes through a mandatory `checklist` to ensure that her condition satisfies the maritime rules of the port being visited.

Under PSC norms, foreign ships are inspected by a PSC inspector of the country to verify the condition of the ship besides confirming that her equipment complies with the safety requirement of international maritime conventions. About three years ago, nearly 25-30% of such detentions of Indian ships were of serious nature.

However, such `serious detentions` have dropped significantly following DG Shipping's tough stance including the proposal to recall a ship, cancel her license to ply in foreign waters and issuing show cause notices to the captain of the ship. Last year, show-cause notices were issued to captains of two ships out of the nine detained to give reasons why action against them should not be taken.

Meanwhile, the DG Shipping's office is also coordinating with the industry to avoid serious detentions. Detainment of a ship is a double whammy. For the shipowner, it means losing thousands of dollars in freight as the ship cannot sail during detention. For the government, rise in detainment rate increases the country's chances of getting black-listed and hence, subject to more strict checks at ports.