Union Ministry of Shipping will issue guidelines to major ports and State maritime boards to ensure safe and prompt handling of hazardous chemical goods, according to G.K. Vasan, Union Minister for Shipping.
The 12th meeting of the Maritime States Development Council that deliberated on prevention and handling of environmental hazards close to the port, had agreed to issue the guidelines, Mr. Vasan said here on Tuesday.
The collision of two merchant ships at the Mumbai port resulting in oil spill and chlorine gas leak near the port prompted the MSDC to discuss the issue, he said. Open storage of harmful cargo close to ports and their transportation in open trucks by unscrupulous contractors had also been reported.
As these incidents caused severe environmental hazard, the MSDC had decided that the Director General of Shipping and State governments should devise a mechanism to curb such incidents and meet environmental standards of ISO 140001.
The maritime States would prepare an oil spill contingency plan, Mr. Vasan said. While the Coast Guard was equipped to handle major oil spills, all ports should prepare themselves to address smaller ones, preferably through contracts with agencies with expertise to deal with such situations.
“The Ministry of Shipping is also devising a scheme for utilising oil cess being collected by the ports for providing assistance to mitigate oil pollution at the ports.”
The council also agreed to install Vessel Traffic Management System (VTMS) in non-major ports, formulate a policy on coastal shipping in consultation with the States for giving adequate incentives and facilitating paperless transaction to enhance efficient port operations with the integration of non-major ports into Port Community System (PCS), Mr. Vasan said. Noting that only Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra had constituted Maritime Boards, he said the Ministry would ask the remaining coastal States to constitute Maritime Boards at the earliest with representations from the Shipping Ministry, Coast Guard and Indian Navy.
Sanjeeb Kumar Sahoo, Minister for Commerce and Transport, Orissa; Vellakoil MP Saminathan, Minister for Highways and Ports, Tamil Nadu; Sureendran Pillai, Minister of Ports, Kerala; Saurabhai Patel, Minister for Industry, Mines, Energy and Petrochemicals, Gujarat; and shipping officials participated in the meeting.
