Shipping Industry is booming. The year 2007 has witnessed tremendous growth and innovation in Shipping. The Marine World interacted with Capt.Abhijit Chattopadhyay (Director & CEO, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Maritime India Pvt. Ltd) to know about his views and expectation from the shipping for the year 2008.
Extracts of Interview
TMW: How do you describe growth for your organization and the industry in 2008?
Capt. A Chattopadhyay : The Maritime industry has been going through an unprecedented growth in all sectors.As you may be aware that every Shipyard across the globe is flushed with building contract till year 2010 - 2011. Even small shipyards are undergoing expansion plans to accommodate building of larger than their capacity.As far as MOL is concerned, we have very aggressive expansion plan. We have plans to grow from a 805 vessel company to a 1000 vessel company by the year 2010 and from 1000 vessel company to a 1200 vessels company by the year 2013. MOLMI being one of the important center which provides seafarers to MOL vessels, we will have a direct impact of such a growth. We expect our number of pool seafarers to increase substantially during the next few years.
However the catch is where do we find the qualified seafarers ???
TMW: What are the milestones you achieved in the year 2007 and what are the challenges you may face in 2008?
Capt. A Chattopadhyay : As far as milestones nothing much to talk about, however we have placed ratings on 5 vessels. Till recently MOLMI was providing only officers to MOL vessels. Now we have expanded our business to supply of Ratings as well. We have completed the construction of MOL Training center at the premises of MANET Pune, and we have commissioned a complete 360 Deg uninterrupted view BRM Simulator at this Training center. This training center was formally inaugurated on the 1st of February 2008.
TMW: What would be the top most priority for the industry for its growth in your opinion?
Capt. A Chattopadhyay : In order to operate any successful business, the key factors are the human resource. To run a shipping business successfully the most important people are those who run the vessels safely. There is an acute shortage of qualified seafarers across the globe. The top most priority of the shipping industry should be to train large number of cadets to prepare future qualified officers. Every Ship Owner must understand that and take necessary steps to increase the training berths on board their vessels to change the present imbalance between supply and demand of seafarers.
As far as other areas concerned, in the Indian perspective, we need to develop modern ports and hinterland infrastructure. Logistic chain is never complete successfully without a strong infrastructure. A port may be modern with good
facilities, however we have to improve the roads carrying to & from Factory to destination
TMW: What support the industry is looking forward to from the government and the authorities to speed up growth?
Capt. A Chattopadhyay : We are noticing a trend in DG Shipping to stop permission to new players in the Maritime Education sector. We are also noticing that the DG Shipping is reluctant to allow additional permission for increasing number of trainees in an existing Maritime Training Institution. My opinion is that DG Should encourage more candidates to come out of Pre-sea Training academy, only then we can get sufficient number of cadets. The situation is so severe that we have to offer scholarship to institution & cadets to get sufficient number of suitable cadets.
Also the examination results and procedure thereafter to collect CoC should be simplified and faster issuance of CoC must be implemented.
In the infrastructure sector Govt has to take immediate steps to speed up implementation of the plans they have already made and look freshly at new areas where more emphasis on infrastructure is necessary
