Page 22 - Annual Review 2021 full

Indian National Shipowners’ Association
Ports” and introduced international standards and
practices which have to be adhered to in awarding
maintenance and or capital dredging works in
the major ports. Indian Ports Association notified
a “Conciliation and Settlement Committee” for
settlement of disputes. This is an additional dispute
resolution mechanism which uses “mediation” so
that time and costs are saved.
The Indian dredging industry needs the intervention
of Government of India, Ministry of Shipping, Ports
and Waterways in the following critical areas;
i. It is established from the Registry that the
foreign flag vessels registered under Indian
tonnage are greater than 35 years old and
few contractors evade registration under MSA
58 and opt for IWT or HCA registry for price
advantage thereafter resulting in disputes and
litigation. viii. The Conciliation and Settlement Committee
ii. To mitigate this issue, there has to be level
playing field for Indian contractors with
comparatively younger dredgers.
iii. The established state support to Indian flag
ships, the Right of First Refusal has been
withdrawn for dredging works despite the
continued emphasis on “Make in India.
ix. Although the revised (Preference to Make in
iv. There is an urgent need to restore this Right
of First Refusal for Indian registered dredgers
with a 15-20% price mark up to make up for the
higher cost of operations. This is the only way
forward to increase Indian tonnage.
v. While we must continue to welcome foreign
companies from participating in tenders,
successful bidders must be required to flag
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their vessels in India before commencement
of the contract. This will only benefit the
Indian economy without any corresponding
inconvenience to the foreign company.
vi. The project management consultants appointed
for ports/dredging projects should have hands
on expertise and specific domain knowledge
as, on many occasions, it has been observed
that disputes and litigation with international
contractors are due to lesser professional
domain experience and/or knowledge.
vii. One solution would be to ensure that the
experts/consultants shall mandatory have at
least 15 years of domain experience to qualify
for any works. Further, the appointment of a
techno legal member should be Mandatory.
(CSC) formulated by Indian Ports Association
has mandated that only the ports are entitled
to approach CSC for settlement and the
contractor is not entitled to approach CSC.
The way forward would be that in disputes, the
contractor should also be allowed to directly
refer to CSC for speedy dispute resolution
mechanism.
India) 2017 policy circular dated 4th June 2020
from the Ministry of Finance mandate that
tenders either service or for works with less than
Rs. 200 crore shall be strictly domestic tender,
this circular is not followed either in words or
spirit. There is a need to strictly implement
this measure to ensure expansion of Indian
tonnage.