Pranav Birje| Senior Correspondent
‘Safety Tips at Sea’ campaign part of ‘14th Day of the Seafarer’ celebration
National Maritime Day Celebrations (Central) Committee [NMDC], under the aegis of the Directorate General of Shipping, Government of India, celebrated the ‘14th Day of the Seafarer’ on Tuesday, 25th June 2024, at Swatantra Veer Sawarkar Sabhagruha in Mumbai. ‘Navigating The Future: Safety First,’ was the theme adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) for this year’s celebration with ‘Safety Tips at Sea’ as the campaign hashtag.
The Union Cabinet Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, in his message, appreciated and recognized the great contributions of Indian seafarers for maintaining supply chain. The Secretary, Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Shri T K Ramachandra explained the details of the work done by the Government of India for the benefits of the seafarers and informed the importance of safety and security in the current scenario in his video message.
The keynote address was delivered by Shri Shyam Jagannathan, Director General of Shipping and Chairman of NMDC (Central) Committee and while congratulating the seafarers he mentioned that India wants to increase the number of seafarers from 12% to more than 20% of global supply of seafarers. He explained the various new initiatives started like ‘Sagar Mey Samman’ for bringing the diversity, equality and inclusion for providing the employment to women seafarers both onshore & offshore and ‘Sagar Mey Yog’ for bringing the sense of mental and physical wellbeing. He stressed upon the ‘Suraksha Hamesha-Sarvapratham’, development of the state-of-the-art LMS for quality education and maritime training, end to end computerization and digitization of the examination and further vigorously addressing the grievances and crisis management.
Capt. Karen Davis, Managing Director, Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF), a global association of oil and gas companies that promotes safe and environmentally responsible marine operations, was the Guest of Honour for the function. In her address, she congratulated seafarers and all the stakeholders of maritime fraternity and provided safety tips and guidance regarding security related things by referring to her life experiences filled with emotions and humor. She mentioned that a lot of opportunities have emerged for men and women seafarers in the offshore sectors too. She told the seafarers to be brave and learn to speak boldly about any issue that they are facing. She praised the efforts made by the DG Shipping, Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Indian Navy and other organisations for maintaining the marine security in recent years.
Mr. Arsenio Dominguez, Secretary-General, International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in his message asserted that the Seafarers are performing their job with highest level of safety and mentioned they are always ready to tackle the emergency situations.
While showing their hidden talent, the cadets performed skit plays depicting the importance of safety in shipping. NMDC felicitated around 20 meritorious candidates who have excelled in their academic performance.