MUMBAI: Simatech Shipping - a pioneering feeder service provider in the Gulf, the Indian Sub-Continent, Far East and East Africa recently hosted a Trade party for the official launch of Coastal – IWCS vessels in Mumbai on 29th April 2016.
MV Narmadaa and MV Godavari, the Indian flagged vessels were officially launched by Mr. Deepak Shetty – DG Shipping and Mr. Neeraj Bansal – Deputy Chairman, JN Port. Both the vessels have a capacity of around 1689 TEUs each.
Mr M. G. Maghami – Chairman and Mr Ali G. Maghami, Vice-Chairman, Mr C. F. George, Managing Director of Simatech Shipping and Mr K.P. Unnikrishnan, Director, Sima Marine (India) Pvt. Ltd, were present to grace the occasion and welcome the cross-section of Senior Officials from the Maritime and Logistics industry.
Mr M. G. Maghami presented mementoes to Mr Deepak Shetty and Mr Neeraj Bansal and thanked them for their support in the reflagging of the vessels and commencement of the service.
The Coastal-IWCS vessels have been operational since January having port rotation : Mundra, Mormugao, Mangalore, Cochin, Colombo, Mangalore, Mundra.
Mr M. G. Maghami applauded the Government’s initiative for creating the conducive atmosphere for Simatech to compete in India and provide Indian producers and manufacturers the opportunity to be able to export on competitive rates and better service. On the present circumstance of shipping industry, he stressed on the need to cooperate with each other to overcome the global slowdown. He added that while Simatech might be small company, the performance of small firms has been better in recent times due to cost efficiency and faster reaction to the needs of the market.
Mr Deepak Shetty, in his address, lauded the growth of Simatech since 1992, with a current fleet of over 20 vessels covering a wide service area. He too anticipated a good growth for Simatech in future.
He added that though there is still long way to go, but the Government has already started the processes of de-bottlenecking, rationalizing and simplifying procedures to make things easier for companies like Simatech.
Simatech Shipping covers all ports in the Gulf including Umm Qasr in Iraq, West and East Coast of India, Sri Lanka, Far East & China such as Port Kelang, Singapore, Laem Chabang, Xingang, Quingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo and Mogadishu in Somalia, with unrivalled service quality by using its own tonnage.
Currently, Simatech is operating nine services out of India. Their regular services are calling Mundra, Hazira, Goa, Mangalore, Cochin, Tuticorin, Chennai, Kattupalli, Krishnapatnam and Visakhapatnam connecting India to the Middle East, South East Asia, Bangladesh, Thailand, China and Korea.
