The Name of the Society shall be Merchant Navy Officers Welfare Association. The Registered Office of the Society shall be at Visakhapatnam.

In the early 1990’s - Visakhapatnam began evolving as a hub of maritime activities on the Eastern seaboard of India. At around the same time the mariners of Vizag started swelling in numbers and began to have a sizeable population in the city. The active ones from the mariners began getting restless to have a platform of their own and make themselves heard in the social circles of the city. A few enterprising mariners – noteworthy among them being Capt. G.M. Peter, Mr. A.K. Ghosh, Capt. Pradeep Bhatia and Dr. P. Misra – formed a group and called it the Merchant Navy Officers’ Association of Visakhapatnam. What started as a motley group of like-minded seafarers who just wanted to meet regularly and exchange their experiences at sea, slowly began taking the form of a decent sized organization of a sizeable number of mariners of the city from all sectors of the Maritime Trade. Ship agents, Pilots, Surveyors, Ship Repairers, and Training Faculty not to forget the active sailing mariners got hooked on to the idea and the association slowly but steadily got bigger and the membership reached the magical three figure mark.

Cut to the mid 2000’s. The association saw a quantum jump in membership. A few enterprising office bearers added newer concepts, introduced theme parties and tried to think out of the box. The fresher ideas paid dividends and more and more young generation mariners got attracted to the concept. Social obligations were catered to by the addition of Blood Donation camps, charitable activities which included taking care of orphanages and old age homes. Social get-togethers became livelier and catchier. Family based activities, sports, picnics, investment meets and better bonding yielded positive results. Attendance in events, more networking and exchange of information increased manifold. Today from 100 to 125 members in the blossoming days, the membership has shown a spurt and going “Full Ahead” on the engines of membership drive – today the association boasts of around 350 members and still counting.

Other steps such as registering the association with the Registrar of Societies, developing and constantly revising the Bye Laws, systematizing the association funds to yield better returns, slowly switching over from the olden paperwork format to electronic modes of communication and the most of all – launching of the website has transformed the association from a small motley group of seafarers to a vibrant, socially active and corporate style organization of true marine professionals.

The Voyage from 1996 to 2015 – charting new courses, conquering new horizons and exploring new oceans of knowledge – has indeed been an eventful and enlightening one. Much water has flowed under the bows of MNOWA and the voyage just goes on and on

COMMITTEE MEMBERS
	Capt. Manpreet Singh Jolly President
Mr. N. A. R. Naidu Vice President	Mr. P. Surya Narayana Secretary	Mr. P. Prasanna Kumar Treasurer
COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Capt. Vijay Nicodemus Capt. Joseph Thambi Capt. C. Vasudev Capt. B. S. Bhargava Mr. P. M. R.Prasada Rao Mr. K. C. V.Jagdish Mr. Nitin Pawar