Page 18 - Annual Review 2020
P. 18
Indian National Shipowners’ Association
India’s share in the carriage of Indian trade
According to the data provided by the Ministry of Shipping, the share of Indian ships in the carriage of Indian EXIM cargo continues to languish below 10% much to the chagrin of policy makers as seen from the graph below.
India’s overseas trade and the share of Indian ships in India’s overseas trade
Source: Ministry of Shipping
The national fleet carried only 7.8% of India’s EXIM trade and around 59% of domestic coastal cargo as in FY19. All of the balance is carried by foreign ships, who simply walk away with the freight, tax free!
However, this graph above can be misleading. It depicts both the Cost Insurance Freight (CIF) and Free on Board (FOB) trade.
The actual share of Indian fleet in India’s EXIM trade is much higher when one considers the FoB trade since Indian ships have an opportunity in participat- ing in such trades only. In the CIF trade, the sellers prefer to use their own flag vessels on their own charter and the Indian ships rarely have the oppor- tunity to even participate in this trade.
In the FOB segment of Indian imports, however, the share of Indian flag ships has been steadily increas- ing.
Labour Issues
National guidelines for employment
of Indian seafarers on Indian flag
vessels
In order to streamline the procedure for employ- ment of Indians seafarers on board Indian flag
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vessels, Director General of Shipping (DGS) has issued guidelines vide MS Notice No 7 of 2020 dated 24-04-2020. The above guidelines take into consideration the requirements under MLC 2006, Labor Rules 2016 and various other circulars/direc- tives, issued time to time by the DGS in relation to the employment of seafarers on board Indian flag vessels.
The guidelines broadly specify seafarers’ wages, service conditions and financial securities, other benefits such as leave, travel, medical assistances, repatriation, hours of rest and grievance redressal mechanism etc which is required under MLC 2006 and Labor Rules 2016. These guidelines would have to be taken into account while negotiating wage agreements with the Unions. The present NMB and INSA/MUI agreements would also have to be modified as necessary to incorporate the pro- visions of the above guidelines.
The guidelines specify the following conditions to be adopted for entering into an agreement with the seafarers’ unions for finalization of Collective Bar- gaining Agreements (CBA) and Seafarers’ Employ- ment Agreement (SEA).
i. The Shipowner’s organization shall be permit- ted to enter into CBA with seafarers’ organiza- tions.
