The Directorate-General of Shipping has decided to rate maritime institutes as most of the colleges leave much to be desired in terms of quality. Of the 137 maritime institutes in the country, only 87 can be approved, said Deepak Shetty, Director-General of Shipping. He was the chief guest at the passing-out ceremony of the fifth batch of Kunjali Marakkar School of Marine Engineering, Cusat, on Tuesday. Agencies will give the rating of each college so that students are left to choose the best.
He said that a study conducted by NASSCOM reported that only 25 per cent of engineering graduates are employable as most of them do not possess soft and hard skills.
Speaking about strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the maritime field, he said that the strength was that 7.5 per cent of the global seafaring community were from the country. “Indian officer cadre are in demand, and we hope to increase it to 9.9 by 2015. At the same time, there would be a capping on post-sea and pre-sea training as there were 10,000 candidates for 3,000 opportunities. Seats would be increased in state institutes,” he said.
As to the sensitive zone in shipping, he said that the country, through the IMO, is trying to extend the 70 degree latitude to 65 degree latitude for the safety of fishermen and the financial constraints of insurance premiums.
The biggest threat is that developed maritime countries are pushing for the market-based Energy Efficiency Index (EEI) to suit some of the western countries through voting. The earlier principle of equity and consensus should be followed in EEI as India’s shipping emission was meagre, he said.The global era and the amendment to IMO Conventions on Standards of Training offerd plenty of opportunities. The weakness is that there is a tremendous shortage of crew. So the demand and supply will be balanced in the coming years, he said.
Cusat Vice-Chancellor Ramachandran Thekkedath presided over the function. B R Sekhar, Principal Officer, Mercantile Marine Department, Cochin, was the guest of honour. Pro-VC Godfrey Louis handed over the course certificates to the 30 students. School director K A Simon welcomed the gathering, and Cusat Registrar A Ramachandran proposed the vote of thanks.
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