Mr GK Vasan minister of shipping launched the Maritime Agenda 2010-2020, a perspective plan of the shipping ministry for the present decade. Launching the Maritime Agenda, the Minister talked about the goals set for the sector including:

“To create a port capacity of around 3200 MT to handle the expected traffic of about 2500 MT by 2020.

We want to bring our ports at par with the best international ports in terms of performance and capacity.

We want to increase the tonnage under the Indian flag and Indian control and also the share of Indian ships in our EXIM trade.

We want to promote coastal shipping as it will help in decongesting our roads and is environment friendly.

We want to increase India’s share in global ship building to 5% from the present 1%.

The share of Indian seafarers is between 6 to 7% in the global shipping industry. We want to increase it to atleast 9% by 2015.”

The Ministry envisages an estimated traffic of 2495 MMT in all ports including the non metro ones. The total capacity of all these ports is expected to be 3280 MMT. The total proposed investments in major and non-major ports by 2020 is expected to be approximately 287000 crores and the total proposed investments in the shipping sector by 2020 - INR 165000 crores.

The Maritime Agenda projects a total traffic of 2494.95 million tonnes for all major and non major ports taken together and a capacity of 3280.04 million tonnes. The proposed investments in ports by 2020 is expected to be 119449.41 crore and in non-major ports it is 167930.84 crore.

The agenda for the decade for the Ports are:

1. Create Port capacity of 3200 MT for handling about 2500 MT of cargo

2. Improve Port performance on par with the best in the world.

3. Increase tonnage both under the Indian flag as well as Indian control.

4. Increase Coastal Shipping and facilitate hassle-free multimodal transport

5. Increase India’s share in global ship building to 5%.

6. Promote use of the inland waterways for cargo movement

7. Increase India’s share of seafarer to 9% of the global strength by 2015

8. Implementation of the Port development projects

9. Develop Two New Major Ports one each on east and west coasts.

10. Full mechanization of cargo handling and movement

11. Major Ports to have draft of not less than 14 metres and hub ports 17 metres

12. A new policy on dredging

13. Identification and implementation of projects for rail, road and inland waterway connectivity to ports

14. Development of two hub ports on each of the West and the East coasts - Mumbai (JNPT), Kochi, Chennai and Visakhapatnam

15. Port Policy Measures

16. Corporatisation of Major Ports

17. New Land Policy for Major Ports

18. New Policy on captive berths

19. Establishing a Port Regulator for all ports for setting, monitoring and regulating service levels and technical & performance standards

20. New Policy on dredging

21. Shifting of transshipment of Indian containers from foreign ports to Indian ports

22. Policy on co-operation and competition amongst Indian Ports

23. Establishing ‘Indian Ports Global’ for overseas investments by Indian Ports

The agenda for the decade for Shipping are
1. Increase in Indian tonnage through necessary policy interventions
2. Declaration of Coastal Shipping Policy
3. Establishment of a ‘Freight Exchange’
4. Creation of Ombudsman/ Tribunals for Shipping matters
5. Formation of an independent Marine Casualty Investigation Cell
6. Establishing a P & I Club in India
7. SCI to have ambitious vessel acquisition plans to lead the growth in Indian tonnage
8. Introduction of passenger ferry services between India and nearby countries
9. Ro-Ro Ferry service in Gulf of Kutch, Gulf of Cambay and other suitable places
10. Strengthening of capacity for Port State Control and Flag State Inspections
11. Promotion of multi-modal transport operations for door to door delivery
12. Promotion of a Salvage Company in India, with Viability Gap Funding if required
13. Introduction of new Shipbuilding Subsidy Scheme
14. Grant of Infrastructure Status to shipbuilding industry
15. Purchase preference for Indian shipyards in procurement of ships by Government through global tenders
16. Expansion of Cochin Shipyard


For Inland Waterways the agenda envisages
1. Development of IWT infrastructure
2. Declaration of River Barak as National Waterway no.6
3. Development of National Waterways 4 & 5
4. Extension of National Waterway No. 3 in Kerala

The agenda also envisages

1. Enactment of a new Indian Ports Act replacing Indian Ports Act 1908 and the Major Port Trusts Act 1963

2. Enactment of Admiralty Act

3. Enactment of Shipping Trade Practices Act

4. Review of the law on the Multimodal Transportation of Goods

5. Revision of the law on Lighthouses and Lightships

6. Amendment of Merchant Shipping Act

7. Control of piracy through concerted international action

8. Bilateral maritime agreements with selected countries/regions for mutual benefit

9. A framework for cooperation between Indian ports and those in other countries

10. Collaboration of IMU with top global academic institutions in the maritime sector

11. Renewal and strengthening of Indo-Bangladesh Protocol on Inland Water Transport