Crisis at Vallarpadam: Indian Cabotage Law to be relaxed?

The ongoing crisis at the International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICCT) at Vallarpadam may have prompted the Parliamentary Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture to recommend relaxing Indian Cabotage Laws, which so far allow only Indian flag vessels to carry cargo between Indian ports. The Committee presented its report to the Rajya Sabha earlier this month, saying, “The Government should immediately undertake a review of the Cabotage Law and take appropriate decision in consultation with all stakeholders involved.” It is learnt that Indian shipping is fiercely defending the law, one that many countries including the US enforce.

Shortage of Indian container ships has meant that Vallarpadam, the country's first ICCT, has been plagued with hundreds of containers held up at the port because of lack of feeder container vessels. Foreign flag ships calling Vallarpadam simply do not have enough Indian feeder vessels to support them. The result is poor productivity, a disincentive to containerise, bad connectivity and bottlenecks. Because of this, major players, including Maersk, Zim and CMA CGM, have gone back to calling Colombo, which is well connected with most Indian ports.

The Vallarpadam ICCT had planned to handle 7.75 lakh TEUs this year, while the 13 Indian feeder vessels available together have a capacity of just 12,156 TEUs- and they do not call Vallarpadam regularly. Trains capacities are extremely low, with just ninety boxes possible per train.

Relaxation of Cabotage, at least for container ships, has been a longstanding Vallarpadam ICTT demand. Some observers say that, unless the government implements the Parliamentary Committee's recommendations, the Rs 1800 crore port, operated by DP World on a 30-year lease, will find it very difficult to function effectively as a transhipment hub for containers. A worried Chairman of the Port Mr Paul Antony had told reporters earlier this month, “The productivity at the terminal is world class, but few ships are calling at the port.”  

The port has been plagued with dredging difficulties right from the beginning, adding to its woes. Antony was confident, however, that the port would be able to cater to vessels with a 14-metre draft well before the end of the year. He said that the main issue was Cabotage. “Unless the terminal is exempted from the Cabotage Laws, it will not be able to attract mother vessels,'' he said.

The government has yet to announce its final decision on Cabotage; no doubt, Indian shipping companies will object strongly to any proposed relaxation. Meanwhile, it is believed that the Directorate General of Shipping is leaning towards a relaxation of Cabotage for container operations, especially since Indian companies do not have the tonnage to operate feeder vessels to any satisfactory degree.

Vallarpadam, at the time of its commissioning, was supposed to give Colombo a good run for its money. This crisis could have been well averted- and major embarrassment avoided- if only the authorities had thought the transhipment requirements through and had put in place the required infrastructure and legislation to support the ICTT at Vallarpadam before permission to build was given. As things stand now, there seem to be few options available if Vallarpadam is to survive as a container transhipment terminal.

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Anchoring under the influence

His lawyer thinks that Rick Ehlert is guilty of “felony stupidity” but does not think this should be considered a federal crime. Nevertheless, the 45-year-old Ehlert is facing 20 years in jail- and a $250,000 fine- in the United States. His crime? Dropping a cruise ship's anchor at sea when drunk. The incident occurred last November and has now come to trial in Florida.

Ehlert, a California resident, has recently pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to damage a maritime facility.  Federal prosecutors in Tampa say that Ehlert was a passenger on a Holland America cruise ship, the MS Ryndham, when he broke into a 'control room area' and let go the 18 tonne anchor into the Gulf of Mexico. The Ryndham was underway on a passage from Costa Maya, Mexico back to Tampa, Florida, at the time. Ehlert was drunk when he broke into the area and let go the anchor; a security camera on the ship caught and recorded the entire incident. 

Ehlert and the Ryndham were very lucky on at least two counts: For one, the water was too deep and the anchor did not reach the seabed. Also because there was no major damage to the cruise ship as a consequence of his stupidity.

When the Ryndham's officers confronted Ehlert after the incident, all he had to say is that he was drunk and that the anchor on the cruise ship was similar to the system on his 50-foot recreational boat.

Rowers set Indian Ocean record after deadly shipwreck at finish

                                             James Adair (L) and Ben Stenning - pic BBC

James Adair and Ben Stenning are two British nationals who rowed for almost four months from Australia to Mauritius in a 23-foot boat. They are the first to make the punishing 3200-mile voyage across the Indian Ocean unsupported, and the third to do so, ever. The two subjected themselves to a gruelling daily routine where each man rowed for 3 hours and took 3 hours off, round the clock. The 116-day odyssey ended in high drama that almost cost them their lives on August 14 when their boat capsized within sight of shore, and huge waves threatened to smash them against a coral reef.

Londoner James Adair later told the BBC, "It was a wall of water. It just seemed to black out the sky. Our oars were gone, we were thrown overboard, everything was ripped apart. We just thought we were going to die." James was paralysed for a month by Guillain-Barre syndrome when he was 14; the voyage was to raise money to research the disease.

"I was bleeding a lot from cuts on my leg so Ben kept looking underwater for sharks," James added. "Every time a wave sent us under we would cling to each other." The two had tried to set off parachute flares that were on hand to celebrate their arrival when they were hit by a massive wave.

In Mauritius, the alarm was sounded after the two lost radio contact with shore. A rescue helicopter could not see the duo in darkness, who had abandoned the boat dressed just in shorts and struggled to swim to the coral reef, where they were badly lacerated all over their bodies.

Many local boats sped out to the site to help; one of them finally spotted an oar close to the two shipwrecked rowers, who whistled and shouted until they were eventually located. They were, by that time, shivering with shock, cold, exhaustion and dehydration.

Ben Stenning says they were very lucky to be rescued. "We knew we had to get out of there," said the 31 year old. "We had to get away from those rocks or it would be game over."

Race organiser Simon Clark confirmed that it was the first time in history that a pair has rowed across the Indian Ocean without a support boat. That boat- the £15,000 'Indian Runner'- is smashed, but their mascot, 'Paddington Bear', has survived intact, lashed to the prow and missing just one Wellington boot after 3,200 miles, says the BBC.

Is this the right time for Ultra Large Containerships?

About five years ago, Maersk was the first to start what Paris based maritime consultants Alphaliner said last week has now become a “race for ultra-large containerships.”  The Maersk E-Class vessels- each with a capacity of 15,550 TEU- were just the beginning for the Danish giant: it later introduced the EEE Class, ordering twenty of these 18,000 TEU behemoths for delivery between 2013 and 2015. Some analysts are viewing these moves- and those of several other ship owners who seem to be on a mega-ship ordering or capacity enhancement spree- with some concern, as overcapacity is one of the biggest problems looming large over the industry today. Recent dread about a global double dip recession will only add to their fears.

Interestingly, Maersk Group CEO Nils Andersen says that shipping lines have been engaged in “reckless ordering” and are putting their businesses at risk by joining the race.

Owners are clearly planning to take advantage of economies of scale, but they are not stopping at just ordering new giant box ships. Maersk recently commenced a 'capacity boost' plan that will increase the carrying capacity of each of its ten existing S Class container ships by approximately 15 percent, from 8,200-8,600 TEU to about 9,600 TEU each. The accommodation on each of these vessels will be raised to allow an extra two tiers of containers to be loaded. This will not increase tonnage, though it will allow Maersk to increase capacity for empty or light containers considerably.

Many other ship owners have upgraded the size of container ships that have been ordered recently. Hapag-Lloyd’s upgrade of six 8,750 TEU units to 13,100 TEU each is a case in point. CMA CGM’s boosting the capacity of three 13,830 TEU ships to 16,000 TEU each, NOL’s renegotiations of ten 8,400 TEU ships on order to 9,200 TEU each and NYK’s upgrade of two 6,350 TEU vessels to 8,000 TEU each are some of the others.

Three largest Flag States join to document pirate violence against mariners

The three largest flag states- the Republic of Panama, the Republic of Liberia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands have together signed a declaration affirming their commitment to supply information provided to them following acts of piracy or armed robbery on ships to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB). The declaration was signed at a ceremony at the National Press Club in Washington, DC in the presence of IMB and 'Oceans Beyond Piracy' (OBP) officials; the initiative is a result of OBP's working group. The US State Department, intelligence and naval investigation officials were also present.

It is hoped that this declaration by flag states responsible, between themselves, for 40% of global tonnage will do much to better gauge the “human cost of piracy.” The plan, which is being funded by OBP and the TK foundation, will see the IMB collecting statements from seafarers who have been subjected to mistreatment and torture at the hands of pirates or because of pirate attacks. The three States will give the IMB “sanitised” statements that will exclude personal, ship or company details while sticking to the narrative of the incident- similar to maritime accident reports that are circulated today.

“We have long heard anecdotal accounts of brutality visited upon mariners by pirates,” said William Watson, vice president and governor of the Maritime Security Council and a member of the OBP working group. “Hopefully, this agreement will help quantify the mistreatment and help focus attention on this crisis.”