AsiaRegulatory

New Delhi will favour locally built ships under new chartering policy

The Indian government will prioritise locally made ships when handing out chartering contracts in a big change to the local maritime scene in the world’s second largest country by population. The change is in line with New Delhi’s Make in India initiative and is the latest bid to ramp up domestic shipbuilding capabilities.

“In a big step to promote Make in India initiative and incentivize ship-building activity in the country, Ministry of Shipping has revised its guidelines for chartering of ships by providing Right of First Refusal (RoFR) to ships built in India,” the shipping ministry said in a statement yesterday.

From today, whenever a tendering process is undertaken to charter a vessel, a bidder offering an indigenously-built ship will be given the first priority to match the lowest bidder quote.

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.
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