Jagdamba Pandey

The ongoing C19 pandemic has affected our day to day life, and is slowing down the global economy. Amongst the many affected, seafarers were worst affected due to the lockdowns where they were at sea beyond their contract period. Leading from the front, Kanoo Shipping India Pvt Ltd under the able guidance of Capt Amresh Jha, Director, Kanoo Shipping took various initiatives to facilitate crew changes and crew vaccinations across India.

“We have always been proactive in taking up difficulties, hindrances and customer concerns to the respective concerned authorities. Thus, we are able to assist our customers and seafarers in carrying out smooth crew changes during this most difficult period. Our effort continues in vaccinating seafarers in all Indian ports,” articulated Capt Jha.

Since the pandemic, Kanoo Shipping has managed to handle more than 650 vessels at Indian Ports and carried out more than 5000 crew changes so far in Indian Ports. Being the leading shipping agency in India, Kanoo Shipping has done many firsts when crew change started in India in 2020. “In complete lockdown, Kanoo Shipping was the first to do crew change in many ports in India, including first to do foreign seafarers signing off from Mumbai Port and Cochin Anchorage,” Capt Jha said.

Continuing further, he stated that our efforts to vaccinate Indian seafarers’ onboard vessels brought another first for Kanoo Shipping. “On 27th June at JNPT onboard Ardmore Sealion and on 29th June at New Mangalore port onboard vessel Ardmore Engineer, we carried out Covishield first dose vaccinations. This is the first vessel at JNPT and New Mangalore port that was allowed for crew vaccinations. All the approvals were granted. We take this opportunity to thank the District Collector, Nodal Officer, Municipal, Ports, Deputy Conservator, PHO, and all the other authorities who were part of making this successful. We are grateful to our medical and operation team on the ground for executing it smoothly,” Capt Jha added.

Expressing his gratitude, he said, “There are many people to thank right from DG Shipping – Mr Amitabh Kumar; Capt Daniel for the assistance in crew change activities to FRRO, Ports, PHOs, Local Administrations, Labs, Hospitals, Quarantine Centres and my excellent team who has worked with me day and night to serve customers. Our esteemed customers Anglo-Eastern, D’Amico, Selandia, Elegant, Synergy, OSM, Wilhelmsen, S5 Agency World for all the support and opportunities. Few names I would like to mention here are Mr Maneesh Pradhan, Mr Rajiv Sarang, Mr Rohan Martin, Capt Bopana Mandana, Capt Kulwant Singh Budwal, Jonathan Bygrave, and Nikolai Norman, for being such great support and encouraging me which helped to go the extra mile to serve fellow seafarers and esteemed customers.”

“We look forward to assisting in crew changes and vaccination drives for seafarers at Indian ports. We have done vaccination activities for joiners/off signers at Mumbai, JNPT, Vizag, Haldia, Kakinada, Vizhinjam, Kandla and very soon we are going to do at other port locations as well. Please do connect with us if you require any assistance for seafarers’ vaccinations or crew change in Indian ports,” Capt Jha concluded.

From being the first Arab shipping agency in the region in 1890, Kanoo Shipping has grown into the largest regional shipping service provider in the Middle East. With regionally centralized operations, finance, and communications, the Kanoo office network covers an extensive area, including the Gulf, the Red Sea, and the Indian Sub-continent. The largest independent family-owned company in the Middle East with 15, 000 ship calls every year and Offices in 19 countries covering 150+ ports.  Kanoo Shipping is one of the founders of S5 Agency World Ltd, the rapidly growing global shipping agency company established to meet the increasing requirements of clients. Looking to benefit from the financial and the process efficiencies derived from global coverage.

Marex Media