Sec 47 of Marine Insurance Act
1963 :Change of voyage.
(1) Where, after the
commencement of the risk, the destination of the ship
is voluntarily changed from the
destination contemplated by
the policy, there is said to be a
change of voyage.
(2) Unless the policy otherwise
provides, where there is a change
of voyage, the insurer
is discharged from liability as from the time
of change, that is to say, as from the time when the
determination to change it is
manifested; and it is immaterial that the ship may not in fact have
left the course of voyage contemplated by the policy when the loss occurs.
Pterocarpus santalinus is a species of
Pterocarpus native to India
better known as ‘Read sanders’ is one main and lucrative market for smugglers
as a high price is paid for this wood in China
In every airport, our luggage is subjected to scanning –
‘non-intrusive’ method of inspecting and identifying goods to check and control
the type of goods carried, rather preventing carriage of banned items. Understand that there are specialized
equipments for scanning intermodal freight shipping containers too. Even in US it is not one hundred %; over there
it is spearheaded by the Department of Homeland Security and its Container
Security Initiative (CSI) with the main purpose being to detect special nuclear materials (SNMs), with
the added bonus of detecting other types of suspicious cargo. In other
countries the emphasis is on manifest verification, tariff collection and the
identification of contraband. In US too, one of the challenges is of staffing
the thousands of scanning monitors that would be required at ports. Another is
a lack of physical “choke points” where large numbers of containers can easily
be scanned on their way through ports.
Recently, Times of India reported that ‘smugglers make hay
as container scanner lies unused’ … While the menace of
smuggling increases steadily , most containers at ports are left unchecked due
to lack of infrastructure and severe staff crunch in the customs department. Three
years ago, there were plans to install a scanner at the Chennai port, through
which trucks would pass for clearance. When physical scanning of all containers
seemed impossible, installation of a fixed scanner looked like a solution.
However, three years after the announcement, it is yet to be installed. Recently
, the Chennai port received another scanner with robotic arms to screen
containers. This robotic scanner can spot special nuclear material, besides
detecting suspicious cargo inside a container. The scanner reached the port
several months ago, but the commissioning has been delayed as there is
confusion over the location to install it.
“It needs a safe location as the scanner
contains radioactive elements. We are talking to experts from the Babha Atomic
Research Centre for its commissioning,“ an official said. While lack of
infrastructure to scan containers has allowed smugglers to operate freely, shortage
of manpower in the customs department adds to the problem. Most containers at
the port unchecked as the customs department does not have the manpower to
conduct even basic inspection. According to officials, the central government
has not recruited customs officers despite earning a revenue of more than
`25,000 crore annually from the Chennai customs house zone itself. With
large-scale smuggling, officials estimate a revenue loss. However, a senior
customs official said that if red sanders and other contraband could be smuggled
easily through the ports, smuggling arms and drugs were also possible.
~ today there is another interesting report in Times of
India titled ‘Change of course - Ships with 40t red sanders to return’ …. Here
is the same too reproduced : In Middle Of Smuggling
Boom, Revenue Sleuths Force Freighters With Protected Wood To U-Turn Mid-Sea,
Head To TN. In the first week of May, two
container ships carrying more than 40 tonnes of smuggled red sanders set sail
for Dubai and Hong Kong
from a port in Tamil Nadu. By the time enforcement agencies received
information about the consignments of contraband worth at least `18 crore, they
had crossed international borders. But directorate of revenue intelligence
(DRI) sleuths acted swiftly and alerted their counterparts in the ships' ports
of call.
Now, in the first instance of an anti-smuggling
operation of this magnitude, the two freighters -the Dubai-bound ship carrying
two containers filled with logs of red sanders and the other with one container
- have been forced to turn around mid-sea and head to Chennai port with the
contraband they are carrying. They are expected to arrive within a week. The
operation is being carried out even as smuggling cartels based in Chennai,
Tuticorin and ports in Andhra Pradesh have stepped up operations to cart away
huge quantities of red sanders -the timber of which is highly valued in China
and Southeast Asia for its purported medicinal qualities and its use in the
manufacture of musical instruments and furniture -ahead of a proposed
government move to sell seized logs in the international market.
Revenue officers sent alerts to keep tabs on the
multimillion dollar business in the trade of red sanders from ports in south India
In their last major seizure, DRI sleuths
confiscated logs of red sanders weighing nearly 2.2 tonnes from a container
which was to be loaded on a vessel at Chennai port. The consignment, marked as
ragi (finger millet), was bound for China
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
19th May 2014.
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