Tolani Maritime Institute organized 19th edition of the all-India Technical Seminar “Transtech 2026”
The 19th edition of the All-India Technical Seminar “Transtech 2026” was organized by Tolani Maritime Institute (TMI), Pune & Institute of Marine Engineers (India), Student Chapter, TMI, Pune in association with Institute of Marine Engineers (India), Pune Branch & The Institution of Engineers (India), Pune Local Centre from 10th to 12th March 2026, at TMI Campus.
The technical carnival of Tolani Maritime Institute “Transtech 2026” portraying this year’s theme, ‘Maritime 5.0: Reimaging Ocean Tech for a Resilient Future’, began on 10th March 2026 with the arrival of the Chief Guest, Mr. Ravikant Yamarthy, CEO, Logistics Sector Skill Concil, Chennai, the Guest Speaker, Mr. Shailendra Goswami, Chairman and Managing Director, Pushkaraj Group, Pune and the Chairman of the Institute of Marine Engineers (IMEI), Pune, Mr. Girish Kotwal, followed by the lamp lighting ceremony and the Vandana of goddess Saraswati.
The TMI Principal, Dr. Sanjeet Kanungo shared his feelings in his welcome address and introduced Transtech 2026 as the official platform for the professionals of tomorrow from Maritime Training Institutes and Engineering Colleges across India to showcase their talent and churn out new ideas for the future of the maritime sector. This was followed by the address of Mr. Girish Kotwal, and Mr. Abhijit Kadam, Faculty in Charge, Institute of Marine Engineers (I), Student Chapter, TMI Pune.
Dr. Dhiren Dave, convenor for Transtech 2026, made his curtain raiser speech.
The inaugural function was also graced by the guest speaker; Mr. Shailendra Goswami, who spoke on “Learnings from Supplying Main Propulsion Plants for Warships & Patrol Vessels.”
The Chief Guest Mr. Ravikant Yamarthy, released ‘Transtech-2026 – Book of Proceedings and ‘Tolani Maritime Institute’s Journal of Maritime Fundamental and Applied Research’ followed by his Inaugural speech. The inaugural session was concluded with the vote of thanks by the Vice-Principal, Marine Engineering, Mr. Shailendra Kumar.
The inaugural session was followed by Technical Paper presentations conducted in presence of the Judges Mr. Anand Thakoor, Mr. Anil Bhat, Capt. Kiran Joshi in five sessions with the session chairs Mr. Kailash Mehendale and Dr. Mithul Naidu, from TMI, wherein 7 papers were presented on various topics by the participants.
Day 2 of Transtech 2026 was equally eventful and energetic. There were two guest speakers who made very informative presentations. The first guest speaker was Dr V Vijay Kumar, Director, Gujarat Institute of Desert Ecology. He presented a lecture on the ” Climate Change – Maritime Challenges and Management”. The second guest speaker was Mr. Tejas Ingale, Owner, Chief Marketing Officer, Technical Coordinator and Liaison Officer, Injotech India Pvt. Ltd., Pune. He presented a very energetic and enlightening talk on “Seeing the unseen – An Introduction to Non-Destructive Examination.” Following this, Vice Principal Nautical Studies, Capt. Indranth Banerjee presented vote of thanks.
Three paper presentation sessions were conducted in parallel at Seminar Hall on Day 2. First session was chaired by Mr. Vishwas Mehendale, second session was chaired by Dr. Ajaj Attar and third session was chaired by Mr. Sachin Vyavahare. A total of fourteen papers were presented on various topics by the participants on day 2.
The much-awaited event, Marine Quiz was conducted at Auditorium in post lunch session on Day 2. A total of twelve teams from various maritime training institutes like Tolani Maritime Institute(TMI), Samundra Institute of Maritime Studies (SIMS), Ganpat University, Noorul Islam Centre For Higher Education, Maharashtra Academy of Naval Education and Training (MANET), IMU Mumbai campus, Anglo Eastern Maritime Academy (AEMA), IMU Chennai etcetera, participated.
The final day of Transtech 26 was the valedictory function. The event began with the welcoming speech by Dr. Sanjeet Kanungo, Principal, TMI followed by a very informative talk by the Guest speaker Mr Prateek Tiwary, Faculty in Marine Engineering, TMI. Mr. Prateek Tiwary, talked on “Future Fuel Pathways Under a Delayed Net-Zero Framework” while the chief guest, Capt. Yogesh Agarwal, Managing Director, Yankalfa India Pvt. Ltd. Noida, spoke on “From Command at Sea to Global Industrial Leadership”. This was followed by speech of Dr. Manoj Kumar Kar who presented the conference summary.
Finally, the much-awaited Prize Distribution function was held in which all the winners were awarded certificates and Cash Prizes. The Transtech 2026 Theme Poster prize was won by Cdt. Anshul Kushwaha. Cdt. Anshul Kushwaha also won the Transtech Video Making Competition. The winners of the very popular Marine Quiz competition were Cdt. Garvita Bakshi and Cdt. Vasu Raturi from Tolani Maritime Institute, followed by Cdt. Abhinav Kumar and Cdt. Dhruv Mangal from TMI, Pune, in second place and Cdt. Umesh Shinde and Cdt. Vikas Phadtare from the Ganapat University, Gujarat, secured the third position.
A total of 22 entries were registered for the Model-Making Competition. The models were judged by Mr. Arvind Kumar, Mr. Ajit Shedke and Mr. Tejas Ingale. The alumni association of TMI, TMIAN, also instituted awards for model making in two categories i.e. three awards exclusively for TMI cadets and an award for cadets from other institutions. The judges for TMIAN model awards were Mr. Shireesh Aghicha, Mr. Gaurav Kapahi, and Mr. Karun Mehera.
The winners of the Transtech 2026 Model Making Competition were Cdt. Mohit Kumar, Cdt. Priyambakam Soni and Cdt. Nabh Sharma from Anglo Eastern Maritime Academy (AEMA) with their model on “ACELTRAK NAV SYSTEM.” This was followed by models from another team of AEMA, at second and team from TMI at third position.
The first prize for TMIAN model making award for TMI cadets, went to Cdts Bhavishya Bhagia, Dhruv Kumar Mangal, Adarsh Kumar and Karthikeya for their model titled “SailorGPT- AI in Maritime Education” from TMI. The TMIAN model making award for models from other institutions went to Cdt. Mohit Kumar, Cdt. Priyambakam Soni, Cdt. Nabh Sharma for their model entitled “ACELTRAK NAV SYSTEM” from AEMA. Out of the 12 potential entries, the winners of the Poster Making Competition were Cdt. Rasel Hossain, Cdt. Rishav Gupta and Cdt. Parekh Hemang Chetanbhai from IMU Chennai for their poster on, “Transitioning to Net Zero: A State-of-the-Art Outlook on Ammonia Combustion in Marine Engines”.
The Guest of Honour Mr. Ashish Matta, Principal Surveyor & Manager, Class NK, also awarded the cash prizes and certificates, instituted by Class NK for model makers of TMI. The first prize went to Cdts. Manas Kapoor and Ved Vinon Menon for their model titled “Automated Anti-Piracy Water Hose Defender”. The second prize went to Cdts. Soham Das Barman, Upamanyu Chowdhury, Ritwan Ghosal and Bitan Sarkar for their model titled “Voice Controlled Automation System for Home and Industries”. The third prize went to Cdts. Dhruv Katiyar, Harsh Rai, Bhavishya Bhagia and Dhruv Kumar Mangal for their model titled “Safety Mechanism with GPS and Sensors for Overboard Fall Detection Using ESP32 and IoT”.
The technical paper presentation, being the highlight of the event, had its top three technical papers in the following order: the third place was secured by Cdt. Vibhuthi Duggal from IMU Navi-Mumbai, for their paper titled, ” The Human Element at Sea: A Critical Analysis of Seafarer Welfare”. The second place was taken by Cdts. ShreeOshee Kumari and Naina Diwakar from TMI, for the paper titled, “Multiple Injection Strategies for NOx reduction in a low-speed two-stroke marine diesel engine”. The winners of the paper presentation competition were Cdts Siddarth Krishnakumar Nair, Ramesh Ramani and Ravikumar Kolli from AEMA, for their paper titled, “Predictive Fault Detection for Shipboard Systems Using Machine Learning.” The valedictory session was concluded with the vote of thanks by Sr. Vice-Principal, Capt. Manoj Hirkane.
