SCI to expand tonnage capacity during XIth Plan

New Delhi, July 19 (UNI) The state-owned Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) has chalked out an ambitious plan to add over 41 lakh dead weight tonnage (DWT) in the XIth Five-Year Plan, which would involve an outlay of Rs.13,135 crore.

''We need to give shipping, and especially the SCI, all the encouragement and support it requires to maintain its numero uno position in the Indian shipping scene,'' Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Minister T R Baalu said.

He was addressing a meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to his ministry here yesterday.

Since its inception, the SCI has so far paid Rs.1,487.47 crores to the Government as dividend and it is the only Indian shipping company to have ever crossed Rs.1000 crores net profit threshold.

Mr Baalu said the SCI had set up joint ventures with reputed international companies for carrying liquefied natural gas which would give it new business opportunities.

The SCI has entered into joint ventures with MOL&NYK Lines of Japan and 'Q' ships of Qatar for carriage of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for the Petronet project.

The SCI also has one of the oldest maritime joint ventures in Iran Irano-Hind Shipping Company, which is a joint venture between the two countries.

Mr Baalu said India possesses the largest merchant shipping fleet among the developing countries and is ranked 20th in the world in terms of shipping tonnage.

''The importance of shipping to our economy can be gauged from the fact that approximately 95 per cent of the country's EXIM trade by volume and 70 per cent by value is moved by sea,'' he informed the committee members.

The minister said the shipping industry had a multiplier effect on economy by influencing development of ancillary industries and generating employment.

In order to give boost to the entire maritime sector, the UPA Government is implementing a National Maritime Development Programme that lays emphasis on development of the country's maritime infrastructure.

The members suggested that the SCI should prepare a blue-print for the next twenty years to meet the growing demands of sea transportation in the liberalised economic scenario.

They expressed concern over the lack of maritime training facilities, resulting in shortage of manpower in the shipping sector. They also emphasised that the SCI should make every effort to recover the outstanding dues, mainly against the public sector companies, in a time-bound manner.

Another area of concern, the members said, was a large number of vacant posts in SCI. The filling up of all such posts was imperative to make it more efficient, they pointed out.

UNI