Anglo Eastern Ship Management’s (India) RPSL license has been suspended for three years.

2 April 2023

Seamen’s Employment Office, affiliated to the D G Shipping issued the suspension order, reason behind this suspension is the death of Sanjay Chaudhary, Chief Engineer on 17 April 2018 who was onboard Ship (MT Atlantic Olive) and it was managed by Anglo Eastern during that period.

Anglo Eastern Ship Management is one the World’s largest ship management companies based in Hong Kong. On 31 May 2023 India’s maritime Regulator The Directorate General of Shipping issued a 3 year suspension order for violating the recruitment and placement service rule of seafarers.

Anglo Eastern in Response

In response to the order Vinit Gupta, Managing Director, Anglo Eastern Ship Management (India) commented “Anglo-Eastern has more than 20,000 Indian officers and crew presently in our employment. Our commitment to the employment, training, and wellbeing of Indian seafarers goes back 30 years and has been acknowledged many times over in the past three decades, most recently at the 2023 National Maritime Day Awards, where we were proud to be named the top foreign employer of Indian seafarers by the Directorate General of Shipping.

It is now being alleged that we are prohibited from operating due to a license issue. To be clear we can confirm that we are discussing this matter with the Directorate of Seamen’s Employment arising from an ongoing case involving the natural death of a senior officer on board one of our managed vessels in 2018. We are legally prohibited from commenting on the case, however, we have fully cooperated with all relevant authorities since 2018 and we are absolutely certain that we will be able to continue to perform Indian manning services on behalf of many of the world’s largest and most reputed international shipping companies.

In the meantime, rest assured that our operations remain business as usual. The ongoing discussion does not impact our day-to-day operations, our seafarers ashore or on board, or the continuity of the employment of seafarers and their confirmed joining schedules. We remain, as always, committed to the safety and wellbeing of all our seafarers and their families and look to a quick resolution.”

Well, it is not going to affect much since Anglo Eastern holds a second RPSL License originally issued to Univan Ship Management Ltd. The company’s merger happened back in 2015.