The company was affected in March when its oil tanker Safesea Vishnu was attacked in Iraqi territorial waters, killing an Indian seafarer.
“We are already feeling it,” Anchan said when asked whether rising risks to life were discouraging people from joining the merchant shipping industry. He was responding to questions in the context of a recent attack on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz that killed an Indian seafarer on July 14. India’s ministry of external affairs lodged a protest with Iran on Tuesday.
Anchan said the cost of protecting seafarers had also risen because of higher insurance premiums. “There is an independent cover for this environment which owners need to obtain. Such cover comes at a very exorbitant cost to the owners,” he said.
Safesea had bid for Shipping Corporation of India, though the government’s divestment of the company remains on hold. Anchan met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 30 during a recent visit to India.
He said the renewed disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz had also affected the market for buying and selling vessels.
“Uncertainties have kept merchant shipping on wait and watch mode. Though the market is bullish, on the ground not much sale and purchase of ships is taking place,” he said.