National Maritime Day is celebrated in India on April 5 every year to commemorate the historic maiden voyage of the sailing ship SS Loyalty, from Mumbai to London in the year 1919. This journey wasn’t just about cargo or trade, but it also symbolized our nation’s growing aspirations for self-reliance and independence. The SS Loyalty marked a significant step towards future India’s maritime trade.
On this day, a variety of functions are held by various Indian maritime organizations, with a focus on the shipping industry and seafarers. This day highlights the growing importance of shipping and the crucial role of the maritime industry in India’s economic growth, national security and global trade.
International Maritime Organization will also celebrate the 2024 World Maritime Day on September 26, 2024. ‘Navigating the Future: Safety First’ is the theme chosen by IMO for this year’s celebration. Shipping industry has been continuously evolving especially over the past couple of decades, with new maritime regulations coming into force, introduction of new technology and processes, use of alternative fuels and measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from ships, etc.
This year’s theme provides an opportunity to all stakeholders to reflect and deliberate on the safety implications of new and adapted technologies and use of alternative fuels.
Shipping companies have been making huge investments to upgrade their vessels with new machinery and equipment, both in terms of hardware and software, to comply with in-force maritime regulations, and opting for newer designs for new-buildings to improve safety and energy efficiency of their vessels and ensure environment friendly operations at sea. As international shipping contributes about 2.89% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has set a target of reducing the carbon intensity by at least 40% by 2030 and 70% by 2050 compared to 2008.
Shipping companies are also investing considerably towards training of their seafarers for their general upskilling to address the evolving challenges in shipping operations. Seafarers are required to not just undergo mandatory periodic STCW training, but also company-specific in-house training programmmes during their leave period.
The overall effectiveness of all maritime regulations and the various initiatives taken by the IMO, National administrations and shipping companies ultimately depend on the diligence of the end users –the seafarers. Every year ships carry around 90% of the goods around the world in all-weather conditions. The role and responsibility of seafarers in performing this complex task safely almost each time, cannot be under-estimated. Seafarers also play an important role in conserving and sustainably using the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
In their pursuit for ensuring safe and efficient ship operations, the present day seafarers are faced with a multitude of challenges such as multinational crew with language and cultural barriers, risk of piracy and armed robbery at sea, stringent international and local maritime regulations, adapting to new and evolving technology and processes, achieving time-bound company-specific KPIs, monitoring and optimizing fuel efficiency and reducing emissions, compliance with company’s safety management systems, tedious daily and periodic reporting regime, etc while struggling to comply with the work-rest hours, violation of which results in Port State Control deficiency.
Safety is always given top priority in ship operations, be it safety of life, safety of navigation, safety of vessel or cargo. IMO has been making consistent efforts to enhance safe ship operations and ensure a green and sustainable global maritime transportation system.
However, like any other industry, shipping is not immune to accidents, and the reasons may be beyond the control of the seafarers onboard. Hence in the event of any maritime incident, seafarers need to be treated with due respect by their employers, industry stakeholders and governments. Appropriate steps need to be taken to prevent their criminalization.
As a sailing Master, on the occasion of National Maritime Day my thoughts are with the seafarers onboard the container ship MV Dali which collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge at Baltimore on March 26, 2024 after experiencing loss of power. My heartfelt sympathies to the families of the deceased persons who lost their lives in this unfortunate incident, and my sincere prayers for the departed souls. As per media reports, there were 20 Indian and one Sri Lankan seafarer onboard MV Dali. I can imagine the hardships they may be facing in the aftermath of this accident. While accident investigation in this case is in progress, it was heartening to note that the Governor of Baltimore and the US President Joe Biden called the crew members onboard as heroes, while acknowledging their prompt action of sending a May Day call moments before the collision, which helped save many lives by allowing the bridge personnel to immediately close the traffic on the bridge. May this be a perfect example to other governments and authorities in power to avoid criminalization of seafarers in the aftermath of any maritime incident.
May the crew members of the MV Dali be able to return to their families at the earliest, after this devastating experience in Baltimore, may the Key Bridge be reconstructed soon, ending the inconvenience to the citizens of Baltimore, and may all ships and seafarers continue navigating the future – safety first.
(The writer is a Master Mariner & Managing Committee Member of Maritime Union of India)
