Mr. S Hajara, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), has said that the contribution of shipping to the world economy is tremendous even though it is a “silent” industry. “It is a unique industry as shipping is considered to be a silent industry, but the contribution it makes to the world at large is absolutely fantastic.”He told the cadets of Indian Maritime University at the graduation ceremony: “Without shipping, half of the world would starve and the other half would freeze because it is shipping through which 90% of international trade is carried out.” He stated that the centre of production and consumption had moved far apart and without shipping, connecting the two would not have been possible.
“So, food grains are carried by ships, crude is imported and that is brought in by shipping. But, unfortunately, if you ask anyone how is oil brought, one can only think of tanker lorries; nobody thinks shipping because it is not considered part of your day-to-day activities.”
“But for shipping the entire Indian economy would collapse in a matter of a day because there would be no crude to produce petrol and diesel,” Mr. Hajara declared.
He further observed that one aspect of shipping that was still not acknowledged was that although world over prices increased, “shipping contributed to the world economy and reduced freighter charges in absolute terms.”
Also, in terms of carbon footprints, it emitted 15% of less gas than road transport, 45% of rail and less than 1% than that of aviation, he pointed out.
Campus Director M. K Ghosh said this would be the last batch to receive their degrees from Jadavpur, as from the next year it would be awarded by the Indian Maritime University, Chennai.
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