Steel makers to get freedom on hiring ships

New Delhi : Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) and another state-run steel maker will be exempted from routing transportation needs through the shipping ministry’s chartering arm if they carry one third of their cargo on local vessels, giving the producers of the alloy greater autonomy.

“What we have offered to Steel Authority and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd is that if they can ship one-third of their cargo on Indian ships, there can be an exemption from Transchart,” shipping secretary K. Mohandas said in a phone interview from Delhi.

A five-decade-old Union government policy, designed to support the local shipping industry, mandates that all state-owned firms have to make their ocean transportation arrangements through Transchart. The policy gives first preference to local ships to move cargo to India, provided they match the lowest rates quoted by foreign ship owners in a tender.