New Mangalore Port Well Maintained, may Get Miniratna Status: NSB Chairman
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (PS)
Mangalore, Nov 4: Captain P V K Mohan, chairman, National Shipping Board on Saturday November 3 said that New Mangalore Port was well maintained and had been facilitated with extended and better infrastructure.
He was speaking to reporters at a press conference at Gateway Hotel on Saturday, after the 120th meeting of the National Shipping Board (NSB) that was held at NMPT. Safety, security and environmental protection issues were discussed during the meeting.
Complimenting the NMPT for its concern for clean environmental surroundings, Mohan said that the port is equipped to get more cargo ships.
"There is a proposal for granting Miniratna status to Mangalore port so that its chairman has financial and executive powers," he said.
He also said that the NSB would place a proposal before the ministry for commencing a fishing harbour, 25 kilometres north of Mangalore.
He also stressed on the need for setting up a second emergency towing vessel in the east coast of the country, preferably to be located at Chennai.
"In the recent incident at Chennai where a ship ran aground in the cyclone, the county’s only emergency towing vessel based in Mumbai had to be brought to Chennai, which was a time consuming process," he said.
Gautham Chatterjee, director general, ministry of shipping said that the improvement of shipping sector has been planned. "By using the services of IRS (Indian Register of Shipping), the inadequacy of manpower will be tackled," he said.
Responding to a query, M M Saagi of NSB said that during the Nairobi International Convention on the removal of wrecks, it was made mandatory to remove every capsized vessel. He stated that it is the duty of the owner of the capsized ship to remove its wreck. However, in many cases, the owner would have owned only a single ship and there is possibility of the owner fleeing the scene. "In such cases, the insurance company would be caught hold of," he added.
He also informed that the NSB encourages every maritime state to set up Maritime Boards for making the development faster. "The state of Gujarat had set up MSDC (Maritime States Development Council) 25 years ago," he said.