Ministry of Shipping in association with Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gramin Kaushal Yojana (DDU-GKY), Ministry of Rural Development conducted a one-day workshop on “Skill Development in the Port and Maritime Sector” in New Delhi today. The workshop was inaugurated by Secretary (Shipping) Sh. Gopal Krishna and Sh. Bishnu Pada Ray, Member of Parliament from Andaman and Nicobar.Speaking on the occasion Secretary, Shipping said, Skill Development in the Port & Maritime sector is an opportunity to improve India’s coastal areas, usher in port led prosperity and provide the world with skilled youth. India is one of the leading suppliers of seafarers in the world and now want to be the leading supplier for all talent in the Port and Maritime sector. Shri Bishnu Pada Ray, Member of Parliament from Andaman and Nicobar also lauded the efforts made by the Ministry of Shipping. The workshop brought together employers, training partners and government institutions working in the Port and Maritime sector. The workshop also highlighted various skill development initiatives undertaken by the Ministry of Shipping.The Ministry of Shipping has completed skill gap studies of 21 coastal districts in eight states and three Union Territories (Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep) and currently its implementation is underway. Training of 500 students per-year-per-district for the next 3 years through Sagarmala DDU GKY (MoRD) - convergence for Port and Maritime sector skills is being undertaken and respective State Governments are issuing Expression of Interest (EoI) for empaneling training partners. Project approvals for Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal have been done. For the first phase, training has commenced for 2028 students, 1917 have been trained and 1128 have been placed. 92 students are under training in Odisha.
Additionally, under the Ministry of Shipping’s flagship Sagarmala Programme a world class Center of Excellence in Maritime and Ship Building (CEMS) is being set up in partnership with Siemens and Indian Register of Shipping (IRS) at a cost of INR 766 crore. It will have campuses at Vishakhapatnam and Mumbai and will train 10,512 students per year. The CEMS aims to become an international nodal Centre in South Asia, attracting students from neighboring countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia for skill development in the Port and Maritime sector. Partial operationalization of CEMS is expected to start by end of June 2018 and complete operationalization is expected by September 2018.In order to improve Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) in ship breaking yards in Alang, Bhavnagar, Gujarat, a mandatory 12-day Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) training for all entry level workers has been undertaken. So far 5011 workers have been trained in OSH. The course has been reviewed by DG FASLI, Ministry of Labour and third party certification for the training is under consideration. For Maritime Logistics, a Multi-skill Development Centre for Maritime Logistics is being set up in Uran near JNPT Mumbai.This centre in collaboration with Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship will provide for entry level skilled workforce for maritime logistics.On this occasion a testimonial booklet highlighting the success stories of trainees trained in Phase -1 of the Sagarmala-DDU GKY convergence program was released by the dignitaries. The Ministry of Shipping also released skill gap studies for 21 coastal districts of India. The reports and the testimonial booklet can be accessed at http://sagarmala.gov.in/project/coastal-community-development/report