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Around 2500 BC, the Harappans built the world’s first tidal dock at Lothal, located in present-day Gujarat. Ship-building was a thriving industry then, driven by the strong trade links with Mesopotamia and Persia.
Belying such a pioneering past, India’s current contribution to the global ship-building industry languishes at around 1%.
Japan, South Korea and China together have a share of more than 85% of
the ship-building industry. China’s rise has been meteoric. In a span
of a decade, China increased its marketshare from 2% in 1995 to about
20% now. It employs about three lakh people in about 500 shipyards,
having an order book of about 40 million DWT. India employs 12,000
people in 28 shipbuilding yards with a 1.3 million DWT order book.
These figures provide not only the amount of catching up to do but also
the immense opportunities in the ship-building industry. The government
of India has set an ambitious target of garnering 8% of the world share
by 2017.
Maritime trade constitutes 95% of India’s total trade by volume. Being
among the fastest-growing economies in the world and having a 5,500-km
mainland coast line, India is ready for a large ship-building industry
catering to the world. In addition, India’s labour costs about eight
times less compared with that of South Korea’s. The epicentre of
ship-building has moved from Europe to Japan to China due to lower
labour costs. Coupled with them is the advantage of having a developing
ancillary industry—engines, generators, valves, pumps, etc. It is
estimated that every Re 1 invested in ship-building will trigger
investments of Rs 10 in ancillary industries. Currently, even Indian
shipyards are purchasing such equipment from foreign firms that are
able to sell cheaper because of the economies of scale. About 45% of
the input requirements are imported. As in the automobile industry,
India has the opportunity to build a buzzing ecosystem for
ship-building.
In the last few years, private players like Great Eastern Shipping,
Mercator Lines, ABG and Bharati have been operating ship yards
successfully. Pipapvav Shipyard floated an IPO in September 2009.
Coming off record levels of orders and fleet utilisation in 2008, the
economic bust has altered the scenario in ship-building. Compared with
an order book which was about half of the existing fleet size in start
of the year, new orders have been close to nil in 2009. Platou research
claims that to avoid structural overcapacity, about 40% of the orders
for bulk vessel and container vessels have to be cancelled. How the
industry adjusts to the altered economic conditions will be interesting
to watch.
While China focused on building capacities with smaller and less
complex vessels, India should not only compete in that space but also
be focused on developing competencies for complex vessels that require
large automations. India has already carved a niche for offshore
vessels that are important in the ever-expanding oil & gas
exploration industry. There should be a strong focus on R&D in
ship-building, maintenance, design and management. Indian firms should
tie up with foreign partners to capture technology flow and build
capacities. Being a knowledge-based industry, India, with its
English-speaking workforce, has a natural advantage .
A ship is sold first before it is built. In the ship-building industry,
credibility is paramount. Indian firms should improve productivities,
modernise quickly and deliver on time. Though on par with China, the
productivity lag in India can be gleaned from the fact that the DWT per
person in India is 50 compared with 300 in Japan.
Like any nascent industry, ship-building needs state support to stay
competitive in the global market. Other than fiscal incentives, the
government should create an enabling environment that fosters research
and innovation. Maritime cluster is the cornerstone of the Norwegian
maritime industry. A Norwegian cluster contains players from the whole
maritime value chain, viz. ship-building, ship design, shipyards,
research institutions and finance. This stimulates transfer of
knowledge, spawning entrepreneurship among different actors. Best
practices followed in other industries like single-window clearance,
having a separate monitoring authority for ship-building, etc. could go
on to ease the constraints and enable development of the industry.
Ship repair has always been accorded secondary status (this article has
been no different) compared to ship-building in spite of its immense
potential for employment. Ship-building is technology-driven, while
ship repair is labour-intensive that calls for good ancillary support
and quick turnaround time. For every Rs 100 spent on ship repair, Rs 30
goes as labour charges. The ship repair industry is ‘evergreen’ and
very different from the cyclic ship-building industry. The annual
repair potential of ships operating in India or calling Indian ports
alone is estimated to be about Rs 2,800 crore. It is ironic that Indian
labourers, who acquire their skills in India, man the yards in
Singapore, Dubai and Colombo which are the leaders in ship repair.
China has been emerging as a dominant player in the ship-repair
industry, too. China has 176 dedicated ship repair yards, while India
has one yard and 35 smaller ship repair units. About 56,000 people in
China are involved in ship repair while in India the number is 5,000.
Placed strategically between the east and the west, India presents
itself as an excellent choice for ship repair industry by offering low
mobilisation and demobilisation expenses. With the labour advantage,
India should position itself as a cost-effective destination for ship
repairs. India should also give more attention to setting up new repair
facilities and cater to the repair needs of larger vessels like VLCCs.
Also, ship repair offers the ideal platform for firms to develop
capacities and establish a steady revenue flow as they move up the
value chain into ship-building.
India missed the shipping boom in the 20th century due to the lack of
industrialisation in the 1970s. Now, the 21st century opportunities
beckon. As descendents of the enterprising Harappans, we should seize
the tide.
Source: Financial Express
Jumping Ship
Remember Horse Sense? The movie produced by Walt Disney Pictures that portrays the tense relation between two cousins; Tommy Biggs and Michael Woods. The characters of Biggs and Woods are played by Andrew and Joey Lawrence who are brothers in real life. In the filming of Jumping Ship, they are lucky to have another full brother of theirs, Matthew Lawrence, join them in one of the flick’s main roles.
Jumping Ship starts off with Michael Woods and his father disputing over the starting position Michael should hold in his father’s well heeled business. Having been there and done it all, the senior Woods insists his son should start from a secretarial designation so he can learn the tricks of the trade from firsthand experience. Michael, on the other hand, thinks otherwise since he feels being the owner’s son he should get an executive designation.
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One Piece Latest Episode
Right now, I'm pretty much excited in watching One Piece episode 394 entitled “Rescue Caimie – The Dark History of the Archipelago”. I eagerly await the english-subbed episode to come out and be released.
A couple of new websites I've recently found that I use to watch One Piece online are:
Anime Season
Anime Season – This website is dedicated to several other animes and uses several sources for their movies, including MegaVideo, Imeem player, VEOH, and a miscellaneous player. They provide several sources in case the server is down or if you've watched the maximum number of hours (for example, MegaVideo limits use to around fifty minutes per day). I find Anime Season a good source for discovering new and ongoing animes that are fun to watch, since they have a lot of anime on their list categorized according to genre.
Watch-One-Piece.net
Watch One Piece . net – This is a fairly new website, but this, unlike Anime Season, is focused only on One Piece anime. I like this site because it is lighter and loads fast. It's pretty much easy to navigate around and go to the episode I like, as well as view additional information about that episode. It currently has One Piece episodes–up to the latest episode 393 (soon it will be 394!)– as well as One Piece movies.
One Piece? A Review of the anime
One Piece is an anime that looks pretty simple, in terms of graphics, but it's really fun to watch. I like the audio too, and the voices of the cast which can be quite lively. It is the story of comrades (the word used in the anime is nakama) who have different dreams, but who travel together on the same pirate ship to accomplish those dreams. Their bonds are strong, and so is their loyalty to their comrades.
What to expect?
Expect to laugh at the characters you will meet, expect some action as they battle other pirates and the marines of the World Government, and expect to encounter deep and serious scenes that can touch you and even make you cry.
One Piece Manga
If you want to go ahead with the story, you can continue reading it on Manga. There are several sites like those mentioned above that allow you to read One Piece english Manga translations.
Well, I guess it will be better if you watch it than if you would just read about it here. Try out these two great sites. Enjoy watching One Piece episodes and movies!
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