The Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways (MoPSW) hosted a dynamic and collaborative workshop focused on ship building and ship repair, chaired by the Secretary MoPSW Shri TK Ramachandran, IAS. The event brought together key stakeholders from the maritime industry to discuss critical issues, share best practices, and foster innovation in ship maintenance and construction.

The workshop on Ship Building and Ship Repair is the next in series of discussions being held by Ministry of Ports Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) to elevate the maritime sector in Indian. The 1^st workshop was held on 14^th February 2024 which focused on the “Challenges and Prospective Solutions on Financing and Insurance in the Shipping Sector”. The discussions in the second workshop revolved around the shipbuilding and ship repair sectors.

Shri. TK Ramchandran, the Secretary of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, stressed the government's dedication to enhance the indigenous capacity for ship building and repair through various initiatives like training and skilling initiatives, developing capacity for construction of green tugs and boats. He also emphasized on the need for collaboration across the value chain to foster synergies, which would enable India to achieve targets set in MIV 2030 and MAKV 2047.

The workshop was divided into 2 sessions, the morning sessions focused on Shipbuilding and the afternoon session was on Ship Repair. The ship building sessions revolved around the global trends in the ship building domain followed by state of current ship building market in India. Distinguished speakers gave insightful inputs and engaged in interactive discussions on trends & challenges in shipbuilding & prospects of bringing in green initiatives in shipping sector.

This was followed the specific discussions on the targets corresponding to shipbuilding and ship repair stated in the Maritime India Vision 2030 and Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047 with a focus on ship building. The current initiatives, which are being taken up the Government of India, were stated along with which the India could take a lead in the global shipbuilding market.

The afternoon session started with a summary of the discussions that were held in the 14th February workshop, wherein key takeaways were presented to all participants related to financing, insurance and the need for P&I club in India.

Ship repair session focused on the existing challenges like higher costs, unavailability of spares, custom related issues, etc. Post that the discussions revolved around the prospective solutions for India to become a global leading player in ship repair.

The workshop provided a unique opportunity for participants to exchange ideas, forge partnerships, and explore avenues for collaboration. Networking sessions facilitated meaningful interactions and laid the foundation for future joint initiatives aimed at advancing the maritime sector's interests.

International participants with deep expertise in the sector also attended the workshop. The participants were from multiple countries like South Korea, Bahrain, UAE, etc. and various international practices were discussed.

Some of the discussions revolved around:

• Long term clarity/ visibility from the government on rules, regulation and project pipeline for the shipyards to plan the course of future events accordingly.
• Possible opportunities like the India-Gulf-Europe corridors were proposed.
• The need for building infrastructure, improving the productivity of staff/ workers, etc. needs to be focused upon.
• Initiatives for transitioning to a green ecosystem needs to be undertaken.
• Need to create database for ship builders and ship repair.
• Longer charting contracts with OMC’s needs to be worked out to have better visibility for shipping companies
• Academic institutions like IMU and CEMS may collaborate with industry participants to develop relevant and practical training models.
• IRS needs to collaborate with the Industry on design standardization of certain segments starting with tug boats, coastal vessels, etc.

The discussions held in the workshop would help to channelize the efforts of the Government of India to make India a global leader in the Shipbuilding and ship repair domains.

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MJPS/NSK