Vast scope for India to grow in the maritime sector, say scientists

VISAKHAPATNAM

India’s vast coastline offers immense potential for exploitation of its rich marine wealth, and nurturing of marine infrastructure would go a long way in this regard, said V. Bhujanga Rao, Director General (Naval Systems), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Participating as chief guest at the inaugural of the 34th National Convention of Marine Engineers (NCMRE-22), organised by the Visakhapatnam Local Centre of the Institution of Engineers India (IEI) in association with the Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL) on Friday, Mr. Bhujanga Rao underlined the importance of adopting Industry 4.0 concepts in both operation and maintenance of maritime assets to meet global competition.

C.P. Ramanarayanan, Vice-Chancellor of the Defence Institute of Advanced Technology (DIAT), Pune, spoke on the importance of using Machine Learning techniques to enhance maritime security. DIAT was on its way to achieving an advanced underwater navigation application, he informed.

G.A. Ramadass, Director of the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai, said that NIOT was in the process of developing technologies for harvesting of living and non-living marine resources. He spoke on the challenges in the design of submersibles.

Cdr. Bhaskar M. Bhandarkar, Chairman, Marine Division Board of IEI, said that Visakhapatnam has a great maritime history and has the infrastructure to become a global leader in the maritime sector. He spoke on the gap between industry and academic institutions.

K. Venkata Subbaiah, Council Member of IEI, said that maritime transport was indispensable for global trade and would continue to grow. He spoke on the importance of digitalisation of shipping and the need for marine engineers to equip themselves with the latest technologies.

NSTL Director Y. Sreenivas Rao was optimistic that Vizag could emerge as a marine and naval hub of the world as it has got a huge amount of naval expertise apart from local talent, presence of major ports and railway network besides friendly talented and hardworking people. He said that under ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, 25% of the budget in R&D would go to the industry and the private sector would have a great role in it. The participation of the private sector was expected to go up further.