SCI and Seven Islands Shipping re-join membership of INSA

MUMBAI : State-owned Shipping Corporation of India Ltd (SCI), India’s biggest ocean carrier by capacity and Seven Islands Shipping Ltd, the country’s second biggest private oil tanker shipping company, have re-joined the membership of the shipping industry lobby group, the Indian National Shipowners Association (INSA), multiple sources said.

Shipping Corporation of India and Seven Islands Shipping returned to INSA fold at a meeting of the association held on 25 January, a person who attended the meeting, said.

Shipping Corporation of India, which is heading for privatisation, left the lobby group sometime in 2020 when Mrs H K Joshi was at the helm of the company. The firm’s current Chairman and Managing Director, Captain B K Tyagi, was instrumental in re-joining INSA, the person said.

Seven Islands Shipping quit INSA membership in August last year citing “internal reasons”. The move was widely seen as a “protest” against the INSA board’s decision asking Anil Devli, the lobby group’s Chief Executive Officer, to explain his directorship at Seven Islands Shipping, the person said.

In July last year, Devli quit as CEO of INSA but has been continuing in his role at the request of the top brass of the lobby group till a replacement was found.

The source said that Devli has now been asked to continue as CEO of INSA.

Bharat Sheth, Deputy Chairman and Managing Director of The Great Eastern Shipping Company Ltd, India’s biggest private ocean carrier, is the President of INSA.