India: Shipping Ministry to focus on training more seafarers: Minister

India: Shipping Ministry to focus on training more seafarers: Minister
20/06/2019 https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/india-shipping-ministry-to-focus-on...

Creating job potential by increasing the number of seafarers will be one of the priority areas for the Shipping Ministry, said Mansukhlal Mandaviya, Minister of Shipping (Independent Charge).

While interacting with reporters here on Tuesday, he said another focus area for the ministry will be implementing international best practices at Alang ship-breaking yard.

Mandaviya noted that during the last five years, the number of seafarers had increased from 92,000 to two lakh. Seafarers earn in dollars, and they can work in various capacities in a ship, including in the kitchen.

He said there is scope to retrain several people, located along the coast, as seafarers.

Already, the Shipping Ministry had made the maritime training institutes responsible for providing practical training to seafarers.

It had also relaxed some conditions to make available more vessel slots to train aspiring students.

Globally, India is one of the top suppliers for seafarers, after the Philippines and China.

Mandaviya also stressed on the need to improve best practices at Alang ship-repair facility, another high employment generation sector. Alang, located near Bhavnagar in Gujarat, has high tides which give it a natural advantage to be a ship-repair yard.

Globally, there has been a call to improve the working condition of workers engaged in ship-repair, particularly from environmental groups in Asian countries, including India and Bangladesh.
Source: The Hindu BusinessLine