Plunder of ‘Platinum-II' & maritime control and safety

“Phet” helps thieves plunder ‘Platinum-II'

Even as cyclone “Phet” that finally hit Oman, deterred anyone from the Gujarat coastline to venture into the sea, some thieves had a heyday trying to take advantage of the fear of the storm to plunder the “Platinum-II,” the condemned ship anchored in the high seas off the Bhavnagar coast in the Saurashtra region.

Originally registered in the United States, “Platinum-II” changed hands and nomenclature several times before it was brought to the Alang ship-breaking yard for dismantling. Work on the ship was stalled due to complaints that it carried hazardous and toxic materials. It was plundered when the security personnel on the ship were withdrawn to the shore due to the cyclone threat last week.

Anchored for months

The ship had remained anchored in the high seas near Gopinath off the Saurashtra coast for the last few months after the Central government and the Gujarat Maritime Board failed to take a decision on permitting the vessel to berth at Alang for dismantling. The ship was being guarded by the security personnel in the high seas.

maritime control and safety

On 26th April, 2010, in Lok Sabha S.S. Ramasubbu asked the Union Minister of Shipping to inform whether the Government has taken any steps to improve the maritime control and safety also to clean the approaches and vicinity of the ports.

G K Vasan, the Shipping Minister replied: The Govt. has taken the following steps:-
(1) Administration carries out Port State Control and Flag State Inspection of foreign and Indian Ships with regard to their compliance of International Maritime Organization (IMO) conventions for
safety, security and pollution prevention.
(2) Creation of Maritime Assistance Service (MAS) with Directorate General of Shipping as contact
point for ships in need of assistance through M.S. Notice dated 30th June’ 2008.
(3) Creation of National Data Centre (NDC) for Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT) system for all Indian ships above 300 GT anywhere in the world.
(4) Detection of ships above 100 GT by the land based Automatic Identification System (AIS) receivers under the International Ship and Port facility Security (ISPS) Code requirements through the ISPS circular dated 06th January’2009. (5) Tracking of all Indian Ships above 500 GT by communication centre located at DG Shipping through Ship Security Alert System (SSAS) under ISPS Code, located anywhere in the world.
(6) Compulsory ship reporting system for Indian ships and recommendatory reporting for foreign ships within Indian search and Rescue Regions for the purpose of Search and Rescue (SAR) Operation through M.S. Notice dated 30th June’ 2008.
(7) Issuance of (67) sixty seven two number of Casualty Circulars as part of sharing of lessons learnt from shipping casualties.
(8) Establishment of Safety fairways and recommended routes in the Arabian Sea to enhance safety of Maritime traffic, through M.S. Notice dated 30th June’ 2008.