In the sea of maritime conferences and seminars taking place in Mumbai city the one organised by the Nautical Institute India (West Branch) on March 21, 2009 to focus on the challenges faced by the trade I n the sea of maritime conferences and seminars taking place in Mumbai city the one organised by the Nautical Institute India (West Branch) on March 21, 2009 to focus on the challenges faced by the trade brought together an unexpectedly large gathering of players and veteran - as if expressing solidarity to their committed goal. The unobtrusive venue of the Mayfair Rooms, Worli, which could hardly contain the enthusiasm and zeal of the delegates, became a practical and well conceived setting for yet another serious deliberation on such contentious issues as the burdensome conventions and unfair treatment being meted out to seafarers by some countries purely because they have been shouldering the responsibility of keeping the international trade alive and kicking. But at the end of the day it was clear that it is the seafarers who will continue to end up getting kicked into subservient submission and become alienated from freedom through the whims and vagaries of regulators and regulations prevailing in various ports bordering the seven seas. Significantly, the lady in command, Ms. Lakshmi Venkatachalam, Director General of Shipping & exofficio Additional Secretary to the Govt. of India came to the rescue in the best way she could by agreeing to sort out some of the difficulties within her domain. She urged all stakeholders to 'build upon our natural advantages and resources' in an endeavour to be competitive and to deliver value.

To overcome the shortage of marine officers plaguing the trade she felt that it was a good move being undertaken to encourage youngsters in rural areas to take up a career in the merchant navy. As a case in point she took a leaf out of the success achieved by retailing, which had caught the attention of rustic youth. She promised to revisit the training modules as they required 'to be converted more to suit our requirements'. She also talked about the new initiative of the directorate with regard to the river sea vessel operations. She said that the directorate would come up with further measures so that coastal trade would blossom significantly. One of the major issues affecting seafaring is piracy and hijacking of vessels. Capt R. K. Awasthi, from the Director General of Shipping gave a clear account of the prevailing situation beginning with its history, and spoke on the International Maritime Organisation's (IMO) resolutions. “Now a Contract Group for suppression of Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS) has been formed,” he said. “Its focus is on six areas and the first meeting took place in New York on 14th January this year wherein India participated.” He went on to explain India's stand in these meetings. Thereafter, Capt Arvind Kumar gave a presentation on the legal aspect of the criminalisation of seafarers. He very succinctly explained the various incidents where seafarers always ended up at the receiving end. He contended, “A seafarer is an employee of the ship owner. He is paid by the ship owner for his services. In all fairness the ship owner should be vicariously liable for the actions of his employees. Further the essence of any criminal action is based “Mens rea” or 'guilty mind' - that is having a motive or criminal intent. Hence, there is no justification for a seafarer to be considered a criminal and to be arrested pending an investigation into the cause of the accident.” Capt D. Kapoor from the Director General of Shipping too gave a detailed explanation about the for mation of the Casualty Investigation Code and its implications and applications.

“As far as the directorate is concerned,” he said, “The DG's responsibilities extend up to 12 nautical miles off the subcontinent's coasts. Thereafter, up to 200 miles these powers reduce. The convention on this issue merely touches on investigation.” He stressed on the fact that seafarers should be well versed on the laws and regulations governing various issues about casualties and knows clearly what their rights are. “If seafarers are being criminalised it is mostly because they are not clear about what their rights are. They must remember that it is not possible to eliminate casualties but it is necessary to know about the investigation angle.” Capt M. Yadav of FOSMA gave excellent coverage of the proposed revision of the STCW convention. Being India's representative on the STCW subcommittee at the IMO he explained India's stand on this issue and the flak the proposed convention was receiving from other countries at IMO meetings. Encouragement to move ahead despite the economic downturn came from Mr. Sudhir Rangnekar, former director of the Shipping Corporation of India and cmd of SICAL logistics. He explained that the reasons for the economic crisis were purely manmade. “People in the US are taking loans beyond their earning capacity, and at the same time it is their excessive greed, extreme speculation, high leveraging, reckless spending and extravagant lifestyle that has led to the economic slump,” he informed. Mentioning a few measures that need to be taken to offset these effects he explained what needed to be done to insulate ourselves. Giving an over view on the implementation issues of the 'Maritime Labour Convention' (MLC) of the International Labour Organisation, Capt N. A. Hiranandani of MASSA gave an indepth interpretation of this umbrella convention. He informed that there were differences with regard to the conditions of employment of seafarers and the requirements for accommodation, recreation and catering as listed in the STCW and the MLC. He also indicated what the new convention is set to achieve. “Whatever takes place in the final analysis, still there will be issues which will be interpreted differently,” he observed. From the interaction that followed it was evident that shipping may have brought the countries of the world closer but the distances for all stakeholders to see eye to eye remain immense.