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The Centre will be spending around Rs 300 crore on an incentive scheme to encourage manufacturers and transporters to shift the movement of their goods from rail and road to coastal shipping, according to PVK Mohan, chairman of the National Shipping Board, shipping ministry.
The ministry had set up a committee under the chairmanship of Mohan for looking into the issues of inland vessel (IV) limits, standards for coastal IVs and providing an incentive scheme for modal shift of cargo. The recommendations made by the committee have already been approved by the ministry and expected to be notified within a couple of weeks.
“We have identified nine commodities - steel, marbles, tiles, cement, automobile, fertilisers, foodgrains, salt and sugar - for the incentive scheme. The scheme will be in force and under review till 2017,” Mohan said.
Detailing the features of the new scheme, he said in the case of bulk cargoes, all new cargoes on Indian flag vessels (with a fresh modal shift) will be eligible for an incentive of 50 paise per tonne per nautical mile (nm) up to a maximum of 500 nms. This incentive will have a Rs 150-crore financial implication on the shipping ministry.
At present, coastal shipping accounts for only 7 per cent (or 150 million tonne) of the total cargo movement in India. Of this, while POL (petroleum and oil liquids) constitute 49 per cent and coal 30 per cent, 10 per cent is contributed by iron ore and iron ore pellets. Also, India currently has a coastal fleet of 870 vessels. Of this, only 140 are cargo carriers while the remaining are tugs, offshore supply vessels and port craft.
“With the implementation of the new changes and incentives, we expect an increase of 20 million tonne of cargo movement through coastal shipping by 2017,” Mohan said.
Mohan said that the committee had recommended that the present rebate of 40 per cent in vessel-related charges and cargo-related charges to be increased to 60 per cent at both ends. “The difference may be reimbursed to major ports by the Centre periodically,” he said adding this rebate would have a Rs 130-crore implication on the government.
Stating that the board had consulted all the 12 major ports and 180 minor ports (of which 60 are operational now), and the nine maritime states to avail these schemes, Mohan said 45 ships had already registered to ply under the new River Sea Vessels (RSV) rules, which were amended in July 2013.
