Maritime Zones under the UNCLOS

United Nations Convention on the Law Of the Sea (UNCLOS) is recognized as one of the universal legal documents on the seas. UNCLOS (III) contains provisions to recognize the maritime zones which shall be established by coastal states. 

Maritime Zones

Internal Waters: waters on the landward side of normal baseline(low-water line along the coast)

The territorial sea: area extending from internal waters to the seaward side, usually a width of 12 nautical miles (can be less or more)

The contiguous zone: 24 nautical miles from baseline from which the territorial sea is measured,  aimed at preventing violation of laws and regulations within its territory.

The Exclusive Economic Zone(EEZ) / Continental Shelf :  sea belt extending up to 200 nautical miles from the baseline.

The high seas: all part of sea excluding EEZ, Contiguous & territorial sea.

The rights of Coastal states on zones

UNCLOS also states the rights and obligations of the states on managing and governing their activities including protection and preservation of natural resources in the respective zones.

Internal Waters : The coastal state exercises full sovereignty over its internal waters, and foreign ships while in this water is to observe the laws and regulations of this state .

The territorial sea:  rights to enforce laws relating to safe navigation and pollution, entitled to enforce international laws.

The contiguous zone:    a coastal state has its rights in a contiguous zone to defend its interests by stopping foreign ship supposed to be an offender in order to search, inspect or punish the offenders against its laws and regulations.

The Exclusive Economic Zone:   ownership of economic resources, control on pollution and prevention rights.  3rd party enjoy freedom of navigation, cable/pipeline laying etc.

The high seas:  open to all states, vessels can proceed without interference from other ships.

The “Floating Metro”: Kochi Water Metro Project

Kochi Water Metro is an integrated water transport project in Greater Kochi region proposed by Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL) under Unified Metro Transport Authority( UMTA, Kochi) to achieve synergy between the land and water modes. This project plans to connect islands situated closer to the mainland by way of sophisticated boats. Kochi will be among the few cities in Asia and the first city in the country to have water connectivity as a feeder service to the metro. 

                                   Source : KMRL

The water metro is expected to extended the “metro facility” to another 76 kms by connecting 10 islands around Kochi by way of modern sophisticated passenger boats. About 16 routes are identified and it is estimated that 38 jetties and 78 boats would be required to make the project operational.

                            Source : KMRL

Total cost estimated for the project is INR 819 crores. The German funding agency, Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KfW) is supporting KMRL with a loan of EUR 85-million  (around INR 597 crore) and the French funding agency, Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD), offers the technical support for the reforms.  The project is expected to be operational from April 2018. 

                                          Source : KMRL

Impact on islands

As the bridge road connections between the Kochi city and islands becoming increasingly congested and in a constant state of poor repair, the demand for a revival of the much cheaper water mode has been rapidly increasing. The efficiency, reliability and mobility offered by the proposed water metro system will have a direct impact on island communities.   

Along with the connecting jetties the rural roads also will be developed. Feeder services such as mini buses and auto rickshaws would ensure connectivity to all nook and corners of the islands. This will dramatically improve the overall transport facilities and also would significantly enhance the islanders access to the urban facilities in the mainland.

Source : www.google.com

These infrastructure development plans surely would serve as a catalyst for the overall economic growth of the islands around Kochi. The proposed commercial complexes in the jetties would enhance the job and self-employment opportunities of the islanders.   Once the project gets successfully implemented the now sleepy islands would turn in to bustling haven of commerce and ecotourism.

Regulatory role of Port State Control

Maritime regulations are required to ensure that shipping companies operate within the same standards of safety and environmental responsibility as applicable to companies operating on land.

Who are the regulators?

The maritime regulators who are responsible to formulate and implement the regulations are UN - IMO to regulate on matters related to ship safety, pollution prevention and security and ILO is responsible for laws governing the people on board the ship, the classification societies (the technical advisors) and the maritime states.  

Maritime states have two regulatory roles to play - one as Flag State who has governing power on its own flag ships and the second one as Coastal State, who has powers to enforce international law related to safe navigation and prevention of pollution on ships in its territorial waters.

Port State Control

More and more of ships were getting registered under the flag of convenience due to the commercially favourable terms of registration. Some of the flag states were not enforcing international maritime regulations on its own flag ships and this gave way to the Port State control movement.

UNCLOS 1982 allows coastal states to legislate for the “good conduct” of ships in their territorial seas. Using these rights to enforce international regulations in its territorial waters, the coastal states initiated the port state control movement.

This movement started in Europe in 1978 to ensure that foreign merchant ships calling at their ports comply with the relevant maritime conventions which was got formalized in 1982 by signing Paris MoU.  Ships may be subject to port state control inspection while at port or proceeding to a port to identify deficiencies in ships, its equipment or its crew.

Port State Control Inspection

The port state control maritime government uses its maritime agency (eg: Mercantile Marine Department) to undertake the inspection on ships which are in their territorial waters. The maritime agency employs professionally qualified maritime personnel such as marine surveyors/ superintendents etc to carry out the required inspections.

The port state control inspection normally has three parts: General external inspection of the ship, a check of certificates and ‘Walk around’ to inspect the condition of exposed decks, cargo handling gear, navigation and radio equipment, life-saving appliances, fire - fighting arrangements, machinery spaces, pollution prevention equipment, living and working conditions.

A detention order will be made in case of serious deficiencies. 

How to identify the stowage position of a container on board a ship?

Each container on board a container ship has a stowage position. Bay plan (stowage plan) is a diagram used for stowage planning (ship loading). It shows the cross section of a ship, with the stowage positions of each container.

A unique six digit number is allocated for every such positions, eg:- 020584. This number indicates on which Bay , on which Row at what height (tier) the container is positioned, 02 (Bay)/05(Row)/84(tier) on board the ship.

The Bay

A bay on a ship can be compared to a slice on a loaf of bread. Each bay is given a 2 digit number, 0dd numbers (01,03,05..) for 20’ bays and even (02,04,06..) numbers for 40’ bays. The number increases form bow to stern. The first 2 digits on the stowage position indicates the bay and it identifies the position of the container (Lengthwise), fore , mid and aft, on the ship.

The Row

The 3^rd and 4^th digits on the stowage position indicate the row in which the container is stowed. It identifies the position of the container left to right (width wise) on the ship. Starting from centreline of the ship , rows to the right (starboard) have odd numbers and rows to the left (port) have even numbers. For the ships which have even number of rows in total (15,17,19..), the centre row is numbered “00”.

The Tier (height)

The bay and row position indicates whether the container is towards bow or stern and whether it is positioned towards left (portside) or right (starboard side) on the ship.  The tier indicates at what height the container is stowed. Containers stacked at the bottom of ships are numbered 02, which grows upwards 04,06,08.., in the under deck stack. Whereas numbering on deck starts from 82 for containers stacked on the hatch cover and the numbers grow upwards , 84,86,88…for on deck stacking.

So , stowage position 020584 indicates that the container is on a 40’ bay near the bow , 3^rd row towards right (starboard) , second tier on deck.

INTEGRATED TRANSPORT MODEL FOR DOMESTIC LCL SHIPMENTS

1. Introduction

One of the challenges Indian coastal shipping faces is the non-availability of return cargo. Cargo consolidation or LCL (Less than Container Load) shipments could be a viable and economic solution for the cargo flow imbalance currently plaguing the sector. Consolidation is the process of combining various small parcels into one unit in order to realize lower transportation rates. This system is effectively utilized by the customers in the international container shipping sector.

The domestic consolidated cargo sector is currently been monopolized by the road traffic.   A combination network of ‘Road-Rail-Coastal Shipping-Road’ could be effectively used to provide an economic and efficient door-to-door transportation solution for domestic LCL traffic. Intermodal logistics has tremendous potential to increase supply chain efficiencies of the country.

2. Suggested procedure for domestic LCL shipment

At the place of origin (eg.Delhi ), the individual parcels of cargo could be collected from the customers by truck/van and brought to a CFS / warehouse for consolidation. The stuffed containers could then move to the gateway port (eg, Mundra, Pipavav) by way of rail /or road and to be shifted to the coastal ship for the long leg haul to the destination port (eg, Cochin ,Tuticorin) . The process could be reversed at the port of destination and at the final place of delivery (eg , Kollam , Thirunelveli). 

 

Fig:1

Integrated Transport Model for LCL Containers

However, an expected bottle neck in this process would be the first/last mile connectivity and consolidation /break bulk of cargo.  And the suggested solution to this issue is a logistics system based on milk-run concept which is explained here under.

2.1  Model for First and Last Mile Connectivity  

A Milk Run in logistics is a round trip that facilitates both distribution and collection at the same time. By making frequent stops, a truck can pick up many types of materials originating from several suppliers and drop off goods destined for various customers, all in the same run. This allows direct pick-ups and drop-offs to be planned more frequently, without having to wait for full truckloads.   This method is successfully implemented in many industries for accelerating the flow of products between various production processes by planning truck routes in such a way that they collect and deliver materials for many different processes at once.  

Fig:2 

The Milk Run Concept in Logistics

 

2.2 Procedure for Milk-Run

The procedure for this concept in logistics consists of fixing

-          Proper route and schedule

-          weight and volume of parcels collected/distributed at both ends

-          delivery frequency, time slots, maximum number of customers included etc.

While setting the procedure, priorities must be given to the customer needs rather than the operator’s comfort. To begin with, the Multimodal Transport Operators (MTO) could work out a joint operation with the locally available distributers such as courier services, newspaper distributors, packaged food distributers etc for the collection and distribution of parcels. This could be advantageous for both the parties.  Once sufficient volume is build up, the MTO can set up his own system.

For the visibility and traceability of the supply chain a one stop-shop, such as a single electronic window, which integrates the administrative processes, timetables and invoices etc covering the whole intermodal chain, should be established to make it more customer friendly.

3. Suggested Pilot Study

Kerala, being a consumer state, depends on other states for meeting with most of its day to day requirements for all kinds of commodities. These commodities are presently moved by road.  A pilot study could be carried out by networking the existing non- major ports which are fairly connected with road, rail and inland waterways.

A short summary of goods moved in to/from Kerala is given here under.

a. Food Items : Kerala consumes large volumes of  rice , wheat, atta, biscuits, chocolates, ground nuts, soft drinks, edible oil, mineral water, liquor and beer, branded food items, milk powder etc and at present it is being moved by road. There is scope for exploring the possibility of these commodities being moved by coastal shipping in LCL mode.

b. White Goods: These products include items such as refrigerators, computers, plastic goods, bicycles, TV/VCD / DVD players, fancy goods, gifts articles, glassware, kitchen products, motor vehicles, telephone, washing machines and related spares / equipment. These goods get moved mainly from Delhi, Noida / Gurgaon, NCR, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamilnadu region and are currently being moved by road.

c. Vegetable and Fruits: Vegetables like potato, onion, garlic are mainly procured from Maharashtra. Approximately Kerala consumes onion, potato and garlic together around 1 lakh tons per day. These are also moved by road currently.

d. Industrial Goods: Goods like spares, parts for automobiles, chemicals, polymers and acids, packing cases, bags, etc. are mainly procured from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Gujarat and is getting moved by road.

e. Other General Goods: These goods include paints, medicines, polythene, pipes and fittings, books, tins, cables, generators, glass surgical equipment etc are procured from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa, and Gujarat. These are being moved by road.

f. Spices, Cashew, Coconut, Coir, And Natural Rubber:  These are the products moving out of Kerala to other states and are also moved mainly by road at present.These products have major domestic markets in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi and NCR. These are also potential cargo for the LCL business.

As per estimates, around 20,000 trucks bring goods into and another 2000 are carrying goods from Kerala every day.  These commodities which are presently moved by road could be consolidated and stuffed in containers and moved by coastal shipping wherever possible.  

4.  Create awareness to promote mode shift

There is absolutely no doubt that an automatic shift from road to water transport system will not be possible. Generally, the shippers’ transport mode choice depends mainly on benefits of transport services such as cost, frequency, reliability, flexibility etc . The reasons for shippers to switch modes/operations have not been effectively demonstrated or communicated to them.  Coastal shipping could be considered by shippers as a viable option only if it is proven through high-visibility demonstration projects and studies.

Awareness needs to be created among users on the benefits of coastal shipping as well as integrated multi-modal service models.  Customer Support centres should be opened at all ports, ICD/CFS and at economic clusters jointly by state maritime boards / IWAI/ INSA etc to create awareness among the shipping community and also to clarify their doubts and support them with required information.

Awareness programmes should be organised to promote coastal shipping sector and also to familiarize with the latest customs /port procedures with an overall objective of promoting intermodal solutions. The facilities of local Steamer Agents and Custom House Agents’ Associations should be utilised for organizing periodical trainings /conferences and troubleshooting workshops. Also, success stories in this sector should be advertised. 

Intermodal logistics has tremendous potential to increase supply chain efficiencies of the country. The right policy incentives from the government and business interests from the private sector should work hand in hand to spur growth in this sector. The Central and State Governments’ innovative initiatives to promote coastal shipping also expected to promote inter-modality into a competitive and economically viable reality.

 

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“Cabotage” – What does it mean ?

  

The word “cabotage” is supposed to be evolved from the French word “ Caboter” meaning  ‘sail along a coast’.  As per records the word cabotage has been in use  related to coastal trade from mid-19^th century onwards. In a coastal transport system, the travel of a passenger or cargo begins and ends in the same country.

Few popular definitions of cabotage are as under:

-         the English language dictionary defines cabotage as ‘transport of passengers and goods within the same national territory’.

-       Another definition is that ‘ the right to operate sea, air, or other transport services within a particular territory.

-         Or, ‘restrictions  of the operation of sea air or other transport services within or into a particular country to that country’s own transport services .

In simple words, “Cabotage”  is a principle regulating shipping activities, which takes place within a country's waters, and recognises that a country is entitled to restrict the activities of foreign vessels operating within its waters. This principle has an important bearing on a country’s coastal shipping trade and is expected to protect and promote the domestic shipping sector of the country.

Most of the maritime nations placed restrictions on movement of cargo or passengers along coastal ports of their country by their own flag vessels. Countries like USA practices an absolute cabotage (Jones Act) ,  which requires  all goods shipped among US sea ports be carried by US built, flagged, operated and crewed vessels. Where as many other nations, including India,  relaxed the cabotage principle to promote the EXIM trade.

In India the Cabotage, which is provisioned in section 406 & 407 part XIV of Merchant Shipping Act,1958, is not absolute . According to this law, only Indian flag vessels can carry cargo from one Indian port to another Indian port . However , permission can be granted to foreign flag vessels to carry cargo between Indian ports , in case Indian flag ships are not available. The notification of Govt of India with regard to cabotage relaxation for transhipment port is attached here under:

Hub – and- Spoke Transshipment Model

Hub and Spoke is a system of distribution of goods, passengers and data, in which  the items to be distributed are routed in to / out  through a center point. This system is widely used in transportation (air & sea) and also in supply chains. The Hub & spoke model is named for the bicycle wheel, which has a stable centre part connecting to multiple spokes which holds the wheel.

In maritime industry the hub and spoke model is used for transhipment of containers. Transhipment is a process of moving containers from one ship to another keeping a port as a temporary buffer storage area. So, the hub and spoke maritime network has a  fixed centre point called HUB (transhipment) PORT , which connects short distance cargo ports called feeder ports by spokes namely feeder ships. The hub port generally will be geographically a central location, which has an easy access to the region. Colombo is a popular hub port for Indian Sub-Continent region.

Hub & Spoke Transshipment Port - Colombo 

The Shipping lines chose hub ports in strategic regions to achieve economy of scale and to optimise services.

How shipping lines do chose hub ports? The choice depends on the line’s overall logistics strategy and the seaport’s geographical, strategical, economical, physical, political, environmental and inter-modal advantages.  

The hub and spoke system also is used in intersection transhipments where in the hub port act as a point for changing containers from one long distance ship to another long distance one , continent to continent transhipments. Example of Rotterdam port is given below.