The Coastal Shipping Act, 2025

What the law governs

The Coastal Shipping Act, 2025 regulates the carriage of goods or passengers by sea between ports or places in India, and commercial services performed within coastal waters. Fishing is excluded from the definition of coasting trade.

Coastal waters include relevant parts of India’s territorial waters and adjoining maritime zones. The Central Government may also notify a port, place or inland waters as part of coastal waters for the purposes of the law.

The supplied copy is marked as updated on 24 April 2026.

Who is affected

The Coastal Shipping Act, 2025 mainly affects vessel owners, masters, charterers, operators, shipping agents and people engaging vessels for coastal trade. Its principal requirements include:

• A vessel other than an Indian vessel cannot engage in coasting trade without a licence from the Director General.
• The Director General may permit a vessel registered under the Inland Vessels Act, 2021 to undertake coasting trade, subject to stated conditions.
• A person engaging someone to undertake coasting trade must ensure that the licensing prohibition is not violated.
• Every vessel engaged in coasting trade, including an Indian vessel, must report prescribed voyage, port, cargo, passenger and offshore operating information.
• A non Indian vessel must produce its licence before receiving port clearance to enter or depart.

The Coastal Shipping Act, 2025 also contains a separate licensing framework for specified chartered vessels used for purposes other than coasting trade.

Licensing and enforcement

The Director General considers matters including crew citizenship, vessel construction, route availability, safety, maritime security, equipment, insurance, vessel and crew certificates, transport efficiency and the national strategic plan when deciding a licence application.

A licence may be suspended, revoked or modified for breach of its conditions, failure to comply with applicable law or directions, or failure to pay a fine or serve a sentence. The licensee must first receive a reasonable opportunity to be heard. A vessel may also be detained for noncompliance after an opportunity to be heard.

Planning and property relevance

The Central Government must publish a National Coastal and Inland Shipping Strategic Plan within two years from commencement and update it every two years. The plan covers routes, operational improvements, traffic forecasts, new routes, integration with inland waterways and promotion of Indian vessels.

The Coastal Shipping Act, 2025 contains no provisions in the supplied text changing land title, patta, property registration or building rights. Its direct focus is vessel operations and maritime transport.