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INDIA’s largest state run shipping company, Shipping Corporation of India, offers a note of positivity in an otherwise gloomy market given that it has ambitious goals to expand its fleet to meet expected demand growth for commodities from the nation.
“We would like to grow our tonnage ideally to somewhere around 10m dwt,” said SCI chairman and managing director Captain BB Sinha.
“That’s a long way out but that is our long-term goal,” he said, adding that he aimed to increase the share of Indian-owned vessels in the world fleet.
“Although we own 39% of the total Indian tonnage but the entire tonnage in India is less than 1% compared with the world tonnage, we have to grow in that sense,” Capt Sinha said.
Currently, SCI has a total fleet of 69 vessels of 5.81m dwt which includes 36 tankers, 17 bulk carriers, five container vessels, nine offshore and one passenger-cum-cargo vessel.
Further, Capt Sinha said that the company was focusing primarily on secondhand vessels for fleet expansion and not on newbuildings.
“It takes time to build the ship and by the time they are delivered the landscape changes, so we are going basically for resale or secondhand ships.”
He added, “Generally we avoid going for secondhand vessels, as we want our vessels to be custom-built. But sensing the changing times we believe it is the right decision.”
“We have the requirement today and we are also getting good secondhand ships at cheaper prices in the market.”
When asked which would be the preferred segment for expansion, Capt Sinha thought that amid the current volatile market, this would be the best time to buy good and cheap dry bulk vessels.
“If I had a lot of money to play around with, the best segment to expand from my perspective would be dry bulk because asset prices are the lowest and preferably in kamsarmaxes and panamaxes.”
The per capita energy consumption in India is still at a nascent stage, which suggests huge potential to drive imports in the coming years.
However, Capt Sinha noted that the Indian shipping industry was also vulnerable to the global demand-supply mismatch.
The whole world might be looking towards India, but if all ships competed for the same pie, it would have an impact on the domestic market, he added.
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