India’s government is preparing to impose a remarkable set of vessel age restrictions on all ships handling Indian cargo. The restrictions would prevent Indian owners from buying and registering any ship over 20 years of age and would require deregistration after 25 years. Similar restrictions would be applied to foreign-flag tonnage when engaged in handling “EXIM/coastal cargo” at Indian ports or providing maritime services in the Indian EEZ. In addition, any foreign ship competing for Indian cargo would have to be less than 20 years old. This could have a serious impact on coastal and feeder services as some of the domestic shortsea or coastal service providers and feeder lines recently invested in second-hand vessels to capitalize on India’s liberalized cabotage regime. Passenger vessels would be exempt.
