India amongst top suppliers of seafarers

The country is making major investments to fuel its maritime sector.

India is one of the global suppliers of seafarers worldwide, with a workforce of over 3 lakh.

According to the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, India’s seafarer workforce has grown from 1.25 lakh a decade ago, placing the country amongst the top three global suppliers of trained seafarers.

Since 2014, India’s ports have undergone extensive modernisation and mechanisation, resulting in a turnaround time of 0.9 days, surpassing ports in advanced maritime nations such as the USA, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, and Singapore.

Nine Indian ports also now rank amongst the top 100 globally. Construction of Vadhavan port, with an investment of INR 76,000 crore, will be one of the world’s largest container ports.

India is also injecting more investment into shipbuilding, including a INR 70,000 crore package to revitalise shipbuilding and ship recycling. There is also the revamped Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Scheme that addresses cost disadvantages in domestic shipbuilding, including credit notes for ship-breaking.