Article - 35 Week 44 Indian Shipping Industry Deserves A Highway To Move On:

• Article - 35 Week 44 
• Indian Shipping Industry Deserves A Highway To Move On:

Descartes said "I think. Therefore I am." 

Indian shipping industry has proved him wrong by the mantra of "We do not think. Therefore, we are." 

From a global as well as to a large Indian perspective, 80% of indian cargo is carried on foreign bottoms. Indian shipping tonnage is nothing more than statistics & doctored graphs. Coastal shipping is barely a support to the needed transport infrastructure. Ship management companies are exceptions rather than rules. Shipping finance is conspicuous by more of its absence. Ship building is almost a forgotten & a marginal thing. Pollution prevention & controls are primitive. Ports are notoriously reputed for inefficiency & shoddy management. The self serving & corrupt Customs department seems no less than the oppressive regime of Cuba or Myanmar. Most regulations & policies are arcane & myopically reactive. 

We understand that there are reformed & buoyant industries in India like Telecom, IT, Automobiles, and Biotech etc. However, there is a large pool of potential industries like shipping, who are still mired in mediocrity to almost stagnation & decay. Wonder why Automobile industry took off, while Shipping got stunted? 

Is it because we have stopped thinking about the wrongs in our industry? If Sanjay Gandhi thought about automobiles after his apprenticeship in Rolls-Royce, the subsequent governments thought more about Maruti's growth, because it was linked to the Gandhi family legacy (though undesired & vulgar side effect) The key thing is people thought. And in shipping, we had no one thinking! Even today ! Shipping Ministry is perceived as a portfolio of the political rejects & dim wits. The people like us in the industry, celebrate their dim vision of Indian shipping industry, that hardly touches on any thing more than the one billion-tons-mark of cargo handling per annum - no matter who carries, who handles it, and how it is handled.

Paradoxically, we have the best brains in shipping who excel outside India. We have ample amount of captive cargo to be carried. We have a huge stock of engineers and workers to build ships. We have the the best geographical position to serve as transshipment and bunkering hub. And we have begun to attract Capital in a big way, that finds its easy way into the stock markets and undesired places pushing inflation & Rupee strength higher. If we really thought, our shipping could soak up billions in investment. This would strengthen our internal economy in place of creating currency & inflation hardships, because you need not buy Rupees to buy ships or shipyards.

We have forgotten to think. Therefore, we stand small in a world of tall shipping nations! Let's think & make our elected governments think in unison.

Brgds

Capt Rath

Econship Marine

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