The 52nd National Maritime Day was observed by the Paradip Port Trust (PPT) on Sunday (April 5). Former PPT Chief Mechanical Engineer Sunil Ku Pattnaik unfurled the National Maritime Day flag at the function held at Wet Basin of the port.
Pattnaik spoke on the importance of the day emphasising on the challenges and opportunities of the maritime trade in India at present. He appreciated the performance of the port, especially of the marine department as the best for its prompt and efficient services proving high-standard professionalism.
PPT Deputy Conservator Capt GP Biswal, who presided over the function, said the National Maritime Day is observed on April 5 because history was created on this day in the year 1919 when SS loyalty, the first ship sailed from Bombay to london flying Indian flag.
He said the Paradip Port has achieved all-time record traffic throughput of 71 million tonnes during 2014-15, exhibiting a growth of 4.42% against the previous year’s traffic of 68 MT. Harbour Master Capt AK Mohapatra introduced the guests while giving the welcome address.
Several competitions relating to marine jobs were conducted among the employees of PPT, Indian Coast Guard and CISF and trainees of the Orissa Maritime Academy. Chief guest Pattnaik gave away the prizes to the winners of the competitions. A vote of thanks was given by PPT Senior Marine Engineer B Sikdar.
A seminar on “Maritime Trade” was also organised by the marine department in the evening at the Officer’s Club which was attended by individuals of the marine community of Paradip.