India liberalizes chartering policy

International ship owners could benefit from a move by India’s leading state-controlled steel and fertilizer companies for the government to liberalize its chartering policy, which currently favors domestically owned tonnage. Steel Authority of India Ltd. (Sail) and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd. wants the same concession that was granted to the country’s oil majors, allowing them to charter ships independently without the need to go through the centralized chartering agency Transchart. Indian Oil Corp. (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (BPCL) can now bypass Transchart and negotiate and charter their own tankers for crude imports and petroleum product exports. (April 5, 2007)