Port Blair, Jan 24: The Andaman Ship Owner Association, an organization which represents ship owners and operators of cargo and passenger vessels and transport over 90% of the cargo being moved from the mainland to islands and inter-islands and ferry 80% of the tourist traffic between Port Blair – Neil – Havelock, would like to welcome the in-principle approval for Indian Coastal Vessels (Near Coastal Vessels -NCV) to operate between Andaman & Nicobar Islands and the West Coast of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia seamlessly without having to change their trade license and officers / crew.
Similar permission was available earlier for trading with Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives. The demand for declaring the above areas under NCV had been raised by our Association and the trade for the last decade or so as this would give additional scope for the deployment of the Indian Coastal Vessels in the above sectors and would generate opportunities for trade and tourism between Andaman & Nicobar Islands and the South East Asian countries apart from employment opportunities for sea-farers.
The Andaman Ship Owner Association on behalf of the shipping fraternity as well as trade would like to thank the Government of India for having accorded the in-principle approval.
“Special thanks and gratitude are due to the Andaman & Nicobar Administration especially the Chief Secretary, Shri Jitendra Narain for having pursued this case in right earnest to ensure that the proposal, which had been pending for long, was accepted by the Government of India. We now look forward to the formalization of the multilateral agreement,” a release issued by Mohamed H. Jadwet, President, The Andaman Ship Owner Association said here today.
