Chennai, Aug 31 (IANS) The shipping ministry is planning a scheme to utilise the cess on imported crude collected by the ports to fund measures aimed at mitigating effects of oil spills.

The shipping ministry has also asked all the maritime states to have a contingency plan ready to meet disasters like oil spills, said Sipping Minister G.K. Vasan said here Tuesday.

'The ports should prepare themselves to address oil spill issues preferably through agencies having such an expertise even though the Coast Guard is equipped to handle such events,' he told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of the Maritime States Development Council here.

Indian ports levy a cess of 50 paise per tonne of imported crude.

According to Shipping Secretary K. Mohandoss, though the cess amount is small a beginning has to be made.

The ministry is also planning to have a policy on coastal shipping in consultation with the maritime states.