Maritime students told to focus on design

Students of maritime studies should focus on design, build upon it to make use of the tremendous potential in the area, Chairman of National Shipping Board Capt. P.V.K. Mohan has said.

Speaking at the fourth University Day celebrations of the Visakhapatnam campus of Indian Maritime University here on Wednesday, he said several ship-building projects were coming up in view of the needs of the Coast Guard, Marine Police, and the ambitious plans of Andamans and Lakshadweep administration for island development.

He also underlined the need for building more ships for dredging in the light of present dependence on foreign dredgers and the need for self-sufficiency.

Capt. Mohan assured the campus administrators that if specific cases were referred, sponsorship for participating in international competitions would be provided.

He released a book ‘The saga of NSRDC’ on the occasion. He launched the website of Shreshta-2013 a techfest that would take place from February 22 and 24.

CMD of Hindustan Shipyard Limited Rear Admiral (rtd) N.K. Mishra wanted support for indigenous shipbuilding citing India’s dependence for hydrocarbon import and acquiring assets abroad.

Director of IMU Visakhapatnam campus S.C. Misra said in his report that the first batch of 40 students in Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering reached final year. A new M.Tech. course in Dredging and Harbour Engineering was launched this year. He hoped the university would soon recruit regular faculty. Former Regional Director of National Maritime Foundation A. Prasanna Kumar later addressed the students on ‘Vizag and Eastern Seaboard.’

Maritime Board

Later, during a brief interaction with the media, Capt. Mohan said the State government should set up Andhra Pradesh Maritime Board to enable it access to Central Government funds, various schemes down the line, and other shipping-related economic activities.

He said Gujarat had set up such a board 25 years ago, developing shipyards, ship-breaking units etc. The Andhra Pradesh Assembly has to pass a resolution and forward it to the Union Government to pave way for setting up the board.