Recently Parliament passed the Merchant Shipping Bill 2025, completing a major legislative overhaul of India’s maritime framework.
- Replacing Outdated Legislation: The Merchant Shipping Bill, 2025 replaces the bulky and outdated Merchant Shipping Act, 1958, which had 561 sections and failed to address modern maritime challenges.
- Two Key Maritime Bills: This legislation follows the passage of the Carriage of Goods by Sea Bill, 2025, making it the second significant maritime reform cleared in the current session.
About Merchant Shipping Bill 2025
Merchant Shipping Bill 2025 is a landmark legislation aimed at modernising India’s maritime framework.
- It aligns domestic laws with international best practices and International Maritime Organisation (IMO) conventions, ensuring that the country’s maritime sector remains equipped, ready, and relevant to contemporary and future challenges.
Key Features of the Merchant Shipping Bill 2025
- Streamlined Legal Structure: It consolidates provisions into 16 parts and 325 clauses, simplifying the legal framework to improve clarity and ease of application.
- Enhanced Safety and Emergency Preparedness: The Bill strengthens navigation safety, life-at-sea protections, and emergency response mechanisms, including salvage operations and environmental safeguards.
- Promotion of Indian Tonnage: It introduces measures to encourage registration of vessels under the Indian flag, boosting national shipping capacity and maritime presence.
- Reduced Compliance Burden: By cutting unnecessary regulations, the Bill improves the ease of doing business in the maritime sector, fostering innovation and attracting investment.
Significance of the Merchant Shipping Bill 2025
- Addressing the Need for Modernisation: India’s maritime laws, some dating back decades, were unable to cope with present-day global trade realities, making legislative reform essential for competitiveness.
- Boosting Trade Efficiency: Adoption of global standards through these Bills will reduce legal disputes, streamline cargo movement, and enhance India’s role as a trusted trade hub.
- Strengthening Regulatory and Safety Frameworks: By merging regulation with enabling policies, the new framework promotes seafarer welfare, marine ecosystem protection, and high safety standards at sea.
- Driving Economic Growth and Global Standing: The Bills are expected to attract foreign investment, increase shipping tonnage, and position India as a maritime power, directly contributing to the vision of Viksit Bharat.
International Maritime Organization (IMO)
- IMO is a specialised UN agency ensuring safety, security, and environmental protection in international shipping.
- Establishment: Formed as the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO) in 1948. became a UN specialised agency in 1959, renamed IMO in 1982.
- Headquarters: London, UK.
- Members: 174 member states.
- India is a founding member (1959).
- Role & Functions
- Develops global shipping regulations on safety, maritime security, and pollution prevention (Marine and Air).
- Addresses legal issues like liability, compensation, and facilitation of maritime traffic.
- Works through five main Committees including the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC).
- Implementation: It does not enforce laws; members incorporate IMO rules into domestic legislation.
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Additional Reading: Carriage of Goods by Sea Bill, 2025
12 Aug 2025
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