NATIONAL MARITIME DAY is celebrated every year on 05^th April to commemorate the beginning of the modern Indian Merchant Navy. On this very day in 1919, the first Indian flag ship “S S Loyalty” of Scindia Steam Navigation Company Ltd.  made her maiden voyage and sailed from then Bombay to London. Though the day was given its distinguished identity in 1964 when the 1^st National Maritime Day was celebrated. This year in 2024, India celebrated its 61^st National Maritime. The main function held annually serves as focal point for commemorating the achievements of the maritime industry and paying homage to the courageous sailors who have served the nation with unwavering dedication.

In Dehradun, a series of events were organised by MARINERS ASSOCIATION, DEHRADUN from 31-Mar to 05-Apr’24.

On 05^th April’24 a Seminar was organised on the topic of “ SECURITY CHALLENGES IN RED SEA – ATTACKS ON COMMERCIAL SHIPPING BY HOUTHI MILLITANTS.” The event was organised at Hotel Inderlok, where distinguished guests from India & abroad were called upon to present their views & share their insights  into the current situation caused by hostile actions by Houthi militants against commercial shipping.  Senior Indian Navy Officers graced the event. The Chief Guest at the event was Vice Admiral (Retd) A G Thapliyal (AVSM).

Security & Piracy had long history in maritime field, but with recent advancements & global scenarios, terrorism has taken main stage in Maritime sector. With recent cases of attacks by Houthis in Red Sea, there were instances, where ships were attacked by missiles causing damage and also loss of lives.

(Retd) Captain Sarabjeet S Parmar of Indian Navy, who had come to from New Delhi, was the first speaker of the evening. He had been research fellow for Defence studies and Analysis for Indian Navy. He was the part of core team which published Indian Navy’s unclassified maritime security document “ENSURING SECURE SEAS: INDIAN MARITIME SECURITY STRATEGY”. His main area of research includes National & Maritime strategy & security related aspects. His presentation depicted his research & series of events which have led to present scenarios and which all entities are affected. He explained how & why piracy emerged in the first place and what all can be expected in future, if not nipped in bud. He shared reasons why piracy or attacks are concentrated to particular regions in the world.

The next speaker who came online was Capt. Kapil Sati who is serving Officer-In-Charge for Maritime Operation Centre at Naval Headquarters in New Delhi. He is specialist in Navigation & Direction. He gave presentation with all details of actions taken by Indian Navy in Arabian sea/ Red Sea of Indian Ocean Region (IOR). He gave instances, how Indian Navy had brought down pirates and assisted merchant ships and fishing vessels irrespective of nationality of crew on board. The details of vessel attacked by missile & on fire were shared. He did not miss to mention how Indian Navy personnel rescued crew from water after they had abandoned a missile struck ship.

To present his views on the agenda, next speaker on line was (Retd) Group Captain M J Augustine Vinod (VSM) from Bangalore. He had been a decorated fighter pilot and had total of more than 5000 hrs flying time. Prior to retirement, he was in-charge of Mirage 2000, MIG 21, Ballistic Missile defence projects at Air Force Headquarters. He is the visionary as far as Drones in our country is concerned. He with his spouse had founded earliest Drone manufacturing company in India. His company is working on counter Drone solutions. He presented his view over use of Drones & their limitation. He explained types of drones, their use, range & load carrying capacity.

Next Online speaker was Captain Sushmit Biswas who is a Master Mariner & is presently serving as CEO of Saigal Sea Trade Co. Ltd  (Chartering). He has over 30 Years of combined sailing & shore experience under his belt. He is MBA in finance & had worked in various technical & commercial roles in reputed shipping companies. He gave the insight of how these attacks in Red sea have forced to change the routes of commercial shipping. Due to this change in route to pass via South of South Africa, sailing days have gone more. Excess Fuel and long sailing days will make transportation costlier. Also it may be cause gap in supply, as ships may not be available for next assignment.  He presented slides showing various data for change in index, costs, import, export, demand etc depending on scenarios due to Covid & now terrorism.

To understand more on present scenarios & to safeguard on security aspects, next to speak was Mr. Daniel Mueller from Ambrey Security of UK. Mr. Daniel is Ambrey’s Security Analyst for Indian Ocean Region and Middle East area. Mr. Daniel authored Ambrey’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) threat analysis which accompanies advanced BMP gap analysis, affiliation checks and voyage risk analytics. He presented his views on what all precautions can be taken on board a ship to mitigate risk. He emphasised on vessel, voyage & ship’s crew checks and preparedness. He gave insight of which all ships are more susceptible for attacks.

Later, president of Association Capt. S. Taimini gave a vote of thanks to Naval Veterans who had attended the seminar. He also thanked Indian Navy for their courageous deeds to safeguard Indian seafarers. Presence of Indian Navy vessels in Arabian Sea have made sailing much secured.

Mementos were presented to Chief Guest & Senior esteemed guest. The seminar was called off with Lunch at end.