Indian Maritime Foundation Seminar 2025
The Annual IMF Seminar 2025 on the theme “Proactive Strategies to Enhance Maritime Safety” was held at the Central Park Hotel, Pune on 04 November 2025. Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, AVSM VSM, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command, graced the occasion as the Chief Guest. The Seminar commenced at about 9.30 a.m. with the singing of the National Anthem, which was followed by the Welcome Address delivered by Capt Anand Dixit, President IMF.
The Inaugural Address was delivered by VAdm Vinod Pasricha PVSM AVSM NM, IN (Retd). He opened his talk with an overview of India’s maritime interests, then highlighted some major maritime policy statements made by the Govt such as SAGAR, MAHASAGAR and Maritime India Vision 2030 before suggesting a few important best practices for enhancing maritime safety.
This was followed by the Keynote Address delivered by Vice Admiral Swaminathan. He described safety as an operational enabler in the maritime domain and a key element of our collective aspiration to make our own maritime ecosystem stronger and more resilient, so as to enable our national vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047. He described the evolution of maritime safety standards through the ages, especially following the Titanic disaster in 1912. The Admiral then brought out a number of statistics to illustrate the impact that maritime accidents had on the economy as well as on human capital. More significantly, a majority of such accidents were caused due to human error. He shared that he was part of an inquiry into the sinking of a passenger barge off the Bombay High during a cyclone in 2021 and was shocked to find out that the entire system worked on a system of faith, belief (assumptions) and paperwork. He also revealed that nearly 50% of accidents occurred when the crew were not involved in any important task and nearly 80% in broad daylight! He highlighted four factors that he felt were imperative to enhance safety: firstly, develop a safety culture; secondly, guard against organisational apathy; thirdly, avoiding a ‘check off list’ syndrome; and fourthly, guarding against a technology trap. He closed his talk by wishing the Seminar all success.
Session I was on the topic “Navigational and Operational Safety” which was moderated by VAdm AR Karve, PVSM AVSM, IN (Retd), former Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Naval Command. The three speakers were RAdm S Madulla, Flag Officer Sea Training, who spoke on “Leveraging Multinational Efforts for Operational And Navigational Safety in the Indian Ocean Region”, IG Bhisham Sharma, PTM, TM who spoke on the Coast Guard’s role and achievements in enhancing Maritime Safety, and Capt Mohan Naik, Extra Master, LLB, LLM, Managing Director of Dynacom Tankers who spoke on “How does the Welfare of Seafarers Impact Safety at Sea.”
Session II was on the topic “Induction of New Technologies” and was moderated by Capt Sudheer Naphade, former Nautical Adviser to the Government of India. The session opened with a talk by RAdm Sujeet Baxi, Director General Warship Design Bureau who spoke on th evolution of the Warship Design Bureau, highlighting its major achievements towards transitioning the Indian Navy from a ‘Buyer’s Navy’ to a ‘Builder’s Navy’. He was followed by Cmde Sumeet Shidore, General Manager (Refits) at Naval Dockyard, Mumbai who spoke on “Contemporary & Futuristic Technologies for Safe & Reliable Repairs at ND (Mumbai)”. The last speaker was Cmde SL Deshmukh, NM, IN (Retd), who spoke on “Maritime Safety through Meticulous Maintenance-An Imperative.”
Session III was on the topic “Port and Industrial Safety” and was moderated by Mr Ajoy Chatterjee, former Chief Surveyor to the Govt of India and ADG Shipping. The first speaker was Mr Biju George, Director Shipbuilding, Mazagon Docks Lts, who spoke on “Industry Safety : A Zero Incident Approach adopted by MDL.” He was followed by RAdm GK Harish, AVSM, VSM, IN (Retd), Head of Shipbuilding Business at L&T whose talk was titled “Environment Health & Safety : Learnings in Shipbuilding.” The final speaker of the session and the seminar was Capt Unmesh Abhyankar, Head Ports and Shipping, Adani Cement, who spoke on “Port Design Considering Operational Efficiency and Safety : Mundra Port.”
In each session, following the presentations, there was a lively and interactive Q&A session with a number of questions posed to the speakers as well as comments made by the audience members, which was followed by a Summing Up by the respective Moderator.
Book Mementos were presented to all participants at the end of their respective address/session.
VAdm AR Karve (Retd) delivered the Concluding Remarks, which were followed by a Vote of Thanks delivered by Cmde Ajay Chitnis, SC, NM(G), Vice President IMF.
Some photos are attached below. Videos of the respective addresses and sessions may be viewed by clicking here.
