Relaxation in Cabotage Law Demanded

The Indian shipping community in June 2010 sought the relaxation of the Cabotage Law in the wake of the Kochi port preparing to commission the Vallarpadam Terminal. The terminal can develop as a trans-shipment terminal for the sub-continent only if the Cabotage Law is relaxed and foreign flag vessels permitted to carry export/import trans-shipment containers from any of the Indian ports to the ICTT or vice-versa. In the Tenth Plan document, the Planning Commission had recommended the removal of the law so as to facilitate the growth of hub ports in India. If the Cabotage law is done away with, the cost of logistics would be reduced, thereby making Indian products more competitive in the international market. The law was framed by the Merchant Shipping Act of 1958 and laid down that movement of containerised cargo between Indian ports would have to be undertaken on Indian flag vessels.