India’s maritime administration is set to roll out an Institutional Salvage Response Plan requiring all ships calling at Indian ports to have pre-existing agreements with salvors empanelled by the Directorate General of Shipping (DG Shipping).
“We are institutionalising our salvage response framework,” said Capt Harinder Singh, Nautical Surveyor-cum-DDG (Technical), DG Shipping, during the Directorate’s 75th anniversary event in Mumbai on August 11.
Currently, India lacks a centralised salvage framework and depends on shipowners’ arrangements during maritime incidents—a process that can delay emergency response. Capt Singh noted that in recent incidents, including the sinking of MSC ELSA 3 and the fire on Wan Hai 503 off Kerala’s coast, shipowners appointed salvors within 24 hours, but added that preparedness should be standard practice.
Under the proposed plan, ships will be required to appoint an empanelled salvor in advance before entering Indian ports—similar to the system in place in the United States.
The DG Shipping is also drafting a national Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for a unified maritime incident response, replacing the current state-wise approach.
Additionally, a separate proposal mandates that Indian ports—major or non-major, public or private—handling 10 million tonnes or more of cargo annually and/or operating at least two tugs must designate at least one sea-going tug for emergency towing and firefighting. The move follows lessons from recent maritime accidents that highlighted the urgent need for rapid deployment of emergency towing vessels to prevent environmental and safety disasters.
“Preparedness and prevention must be the focus, not last-minute scrambling,” an official from a leading European salvage firm said of the plan.