{"id":344165,"date":"2025-08-08T17:47:05","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T12:17:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=344165"},"modified":"2025-08-08T17:47:05","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T12:17:05","slug":"merchant-shipping-bill-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/merchant-shipping-bill-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Merchant Shipping Bill, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>News:<\/strong> The Lok Sabha cleared the \u2018Merchant Shipping Bill, 2025\u2019, aimed at streamlining maritime governance with a modern and internationally compliant approach.<\/p>\n<h2>About Merchant Shipping Bill, 2025<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_344166\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-344166\" style=\"width: 374px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-344166\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Source-DD-News.jpg?resize=374%2C247&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"374\" height=\"247\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Source-DD-News.jpg?resize=300%2C198&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Source-DD-News.jpg?resize=1024%2C677&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Source-DD-News.jpg?resize=768%2C508&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Source-DD-News.jpg?w=1323&amp;ssl=1 1323w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 374px) 100vw, 374px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-344166\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source &#8211; DD News<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>It is a <strong>progressive, future-ready legislation<\/strong> that replaces the <strong>outdated Merchant Shipping Act of 1958. <\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 had become <strong>bulky, fragmented, and outdated with 561 sections<\/strong>, failing to address contemporary maritime challenges or fully implement India\u2019s obligations under several key <strong>International Maritime Organization (IMO) conventions<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Aim: <\/strong>The Bill is aimed at <strong>streamlining maritime governance<\/strong> with a modern and internationally compliant approach.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Key Provisions<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Mandatory registration:<\/strong> As per the Bill, all vessels, regardless of propulsion method or tonnage, must be registered, including new provisions for temporary registration of vessels designated for recycling.\n<ul>\n<li>The existing <strong>Merchant Shipping Act, 1958<\/strong> stipulates that only a ship that is <strong>wholly owned by an Indian citizen<\/strong>, company or society can be <strong>registered<\/strong> under the Indian flag.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ownership and registration of chartered foreign vessels:<\/strong> Indian entities can now charter foreign vessels and register them as Indian vessels under specific conditions.\n<ul>\n<li>The Bill also allows <strong>temporary registration<\/strong> of vessels for recycling of ships in India to boost the ship recycling business.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Relaxed ownership criteria:<\/strong> It allows partial ownership by Indian citizens, companies registered in India, cooperative societies, and Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs). This opens the sector to wider domestic and global investment.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Welfare of seafarers:<\/strong> The Bill expands welfare and protection provisions to <strong>all Indian seafarers, <\/strong>whether on Indian or foreign-flagged vessels.\n<ul>\n<li>Seafarers gain <strong>better access to social security<\/strong> and improved <strong>working conditions<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pollution control &amp; environmental protection:<\/strong> It fully incorporates the <strong>MARPOL<\/strong> and <strong>Wreck Removal Conventions<\/strong>, making it mandatory for all vessels to possess pollution prevention certification, regardless of tonnage.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Institutional and regulatory changes:<\/strong> The <strong>Director-General of Shipping <\/strong>is redesignated as the <strong>Director-General of Marine Administration<\/strong>, with expanded powers to regulate maritime education, training, and security.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Stricter penalties:<\/strong> It <strong>increases<\/strong> fines and penalties for offences like endangering life, concealment of vessel nationality, and environmental violations, to ensure compliance and deterrence.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: The Lok Sabha cleared the \u2018Merchant Shipping Bill, 2025\u2019, aimed at streamlining maritime governance with a modern and internationally compliant approach. About Merchant Shipping Bill, 2025 It is a progressive, future-ready legislation that replaces the outdated Merchant Shipping Act of 1958. The Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 had become bulky, fragmented, and outdated with 561&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/merchant-shipping-bill-2025\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Merchant Shipping Bill, 2025<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10393,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,3127,1731,12039,1],"tags":[11872],"class_list":["post-344165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-economy","category-bill-and-acts","category-knolls","category-uncategorized","tag-9pm-daily-factly","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10393"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344165\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}