Eight vessels have been detained abroad owing to maintenance irregularities in last six months. The number of detention incidents in 2005 was 16.
The vessels are of shipping companies such as Essar Shipping, the Shipping Corporation of India, Varun Shipping Company, Good Earth, Arcadia and Transasia.
"Out of eight vessels, Essar Shipping and SCI have two vessel each while other shipping companies have one each. The detentions are mainly in China, followed by Singapore, Iran and Colombo," industry sources said.
Confirming the development, Director General of Shipping Deputy Chief Ship Surveyor Sudhir Kumar said increasing detentions were a matter of concern for the country and its image.
"Higher rate of detention will lead to even stricter inspection of Indian vessels. This will make operations for Indian vessel more difficult," Sudhir Kumar said.
According to industry analysts, bulk carriers feature the most in the detention list.
"Detention will lead to loss of charter hires of at least two days. The detained vessels will also have to carry out repairs pointed out by the surveyors. If the vessel is detained in high cost port, the cost of repair will also shoot up," analysts said.
The detention would mean a loss of over $ 25,000 to $ 30,000 per day for new vessels and $ 10,000 to $ 15,000 per day for older vessels.
With increasing incidents of detentions, India is featured under Grey List, representing lower quality of maintenance of ships and stricter inspections required as per both the Tokyo as well as Paris memorandum of understandings.
Various MoUs carry out inspection of foreign ships at various ports to verify vessels are complying with international regulations on manning and operating.
"India is under watch list under US Coast Guard radar, which mean slightly worse than the Grey List. India has a similar status under Indian Ocean MoU," DG Shipping officials said.
DG Shipping has warned shipping companies that chief engineer and master of a detained vessel would be held responsible for further detentions.
