Desi Cruise Industry and Its Potentiality

Desi Cruise Industry; Cruise Shipping is one of the most dynamic and fastest-growing components of leisure worldwide. A cruise ship is like a moving township studded with state-of-the-art facilities and a variety of recreational activities. Cruise tourism leads to significant regional development and the development of allied services in the vicinity. A huge amount of foreign exchange can be earned and employment generated both directly and indirectly in the tourism sector. The vision of the Government is to put India on the global cruise market both in the ocean and river cruises.

advtanmoy 02/02/2024 4 minutes read

Desi Cruise Industry

02 FEB 2024

The Government has taken steps to incentivise and promote the cruise industry for its exponential growth as detailed below:

(i) For berthing, cruise vessel is given priority over cargo vessels.

(ii) A rationalised cruise tariff has been introduced.

Port charges are recovered @ $0.085/GRT (fixed rate) and a nominal passenger head tax of $ 6 for the first 12 hours of stay at berth.
Cruise ships are provided discounts ranging from 10% to 30% based on the volume of their calls.

(iii) Ousting charges have been removed to attract cruise vessels.

(iv) E-visa and on-arrival visa facilities have been extended.

(v) A Single e-Landing Card has been introduced which is valid for all ports in the cruise itinerary.

(vi) Cabotage has been waived for foreign cruise vessels. This relaxation allows foreign cruise ships to transport Indian nationals from one Indian Port to another Indian Port during its domestic leg.

(vii) To promote tourism, conditional IGST exemption has been approved for foreign-going vessels when it converts to coastal run, subject to its reconversion to foreign-going vessels within six months.

(viii) During the Global Maritime India Summit, October 2023 sessions on ‘Embark on a voyage to attract 50 million Cruise Passengers in India by 2047’ and a ‘Roundtable with Cruise lines’ were organized with the participation of stakeholders.

(ix) Up-gradation and modernization of Cruise Terminals at New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Mormugao and Visakhapatnam have been completed.

A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) has been issued by the Government which is followed by the personnel from the offices of Customs, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Immigration and Port Health organization (PHO). The role of State Government has also been given in the SOP. The Cruise Port Operation is multi-faceted and therefore, many aspects are involved in the entire process. The SOP indicate the role of different authorities on receipt of notification from steamer agents, as detailed below:

Immigration:– The specific procedure for international pax/ crew and domestic pax/crew have been categorically stated.
Security: – It specifies the role of the Central Industrial Security Force(CISF) at the time of embarkation and disembarkation of passengers.
Customs: – It specifies the process of clearing the vessel by custom officers on receipt of the electronic Arrival manifest from Steamer agent.
Health: The Port Health Officer grant Pratique and Health clearance after inspection and finding the vessel safe from health angle.

Indian Cruise Industry

Connected Laws

The Directorate General of Shipping is an attached office of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Government of India and deals with all executive matters, relating to merchant shipping. In 1947, the Government of India announced the National Policy on Shipping, aiming at the total development of the industry. To accelerate the developmental efforts, the necessity for a centralized Administrative organization was felt, and accordingly, it was in September 1949, the Directorate General of Shipping with its Headquarters in Bombay was established.

Enactment Date	Short Title
11-Apr-1856	The Indian Bills of Lading Act 1856
9-Nov-1878	The Northern Indian Ferries Act, 1878
18-Dec-1908	The Indian Ports Act, 1908
21-Sep-1925	The Indian Carriage of Goods by Sea Act, 1925
4-Mar-1948	The Dock Workers (Regulation of Employment) Act, 1948
16-Apr-1948	The Calcutta Port (Pilotage) Act, 1948
30-Oct-1958	The Merchant Shipping Act, 1958
26-Mar-1966	The Seamens Provident Fund Act, 1966
23-Aug-1984	The Hooghly Docking and Engineering Company Limited (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1984
30-Dec-1985	The Inland Waterways Authority of India Act, 1985
2-Apr-1993	The Multimodal Transportation of Goods Act, 1993
18-Aug-1997	The Dock Workers (Regulation of Employment) (Inapplicability to Major Ports) Act, 1997
20-Dec-2002	The Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against Safety of Maritime Navigation and Fixed Platforms on Continental Shelf Act, 2002
11-Nov-2008	The Indian Maritime University Act, 2008
25-Mar-2016	The National Waterways Act, 2016.
9-Aug-2017	The Admiralty (Jurisdiction and Settlement of Maritime Claims) Act, 2017
13-Dec-2019	The Recycling of Ships Act, 2019

This information was given by the Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal in a written reply to the Lok Sabha today.