India's coastline is strewn with about 187 non-major ports and 12 major ports. Each port has its own peculiarity when it comes to handling of cargo. There is no doubt that the hinterland around the port plays an import role in the development of the port. However, after the advent of containerization, Indian ports were slow to make a shift towards containerization thereby losing a big chance in speeding up their development and leaving them to handle those cargo that they were traditionally handled and trailing behind all those ports that jumped into providing container facilities.
 The ports like Marmagao, New Mangalore, Paradip, and to some extent Visakhapatnam and Kandla were all engaged in handling of bulk cargo and did not see the future in containerization early enough with the result that the level of confidence in the trade to route their containerized cargo via these ports has still not risen up. Marmagao is known for its exports of iron ore and huge bulk carriers (Panamax, Capesize, Supramax, Kamsarmax etc) arrive at the outer anchorage of the port and await their turn to load iron ore. But, it should not be forgotten that its hinterland has huge exports of cotton yarn (Belgaun area) and is landing point for fish catch. Unfortunately, while all the boxes of yarn and fish are stuffed outside Goa, they are trucked all the way to Nhava Sheva for exporting out. Marmagao did not concentrate on containerization at all. Even after a lone box ship began making a call at Marmagao in 1994, there were no efforts to nurture this. The end result was that confidence of the trade for faster exports of box cargo through the port declined. There is a need to rebuild this confidence. New Mangalore Port, also known for its iron ore exports from the nearby Kudremukh mines, unfortunately went the same way. The growth in exports have been limited as the exim trade still looks to move its containerized cargo through Kochi or truck it down from Bangalore to Chennai.  The box service which started in the year 2000 still continues but the growth remains limited. The story is same for Paradip. In the case of Visakhapatnam there is a slow growth as it was a late starter and fortunately it has taken a head start over Paradip. What is the solution for these "bulk" ports? The present Public Private Partnership (PPP) norms will need to be relaxed if containerization has to be developed at these ports. In all cases of PPP norms the government expects that all investors can make a running start. As per the PPP norms, a 600m berth can be allotted and the investor would be expected to do about 1 million TEUs per year. This is a huge challenge and needs to be diluted. The PPP should be based on "BRS" norms. ("Berth Reservation Scheme" was a methodology adopted by Mumbai Port Trust between 1994-98 to increase containerized throughput by requiring the investor to give a throughput of 1 lakh TEUs from a berth length of 250m. It worked because it had the minimum of investments.  So, it is imperative that 'bulk' ports which are today toying with the idea of developing box terminals should re-look at their PPP terms and provide "relaxed exit norms" so as to make it more investor-friendly. This itself will go a long way and assist their development. Capt Gautama, Consultant - Projects and Legal" for Sea Consortium Shipping India, is perhaps the most qualified shipping executive in India. The string of qualifications to his credit are: MA(AU), MA(BU), M Sc, LLB (Bom), LLM (Bom), Dip TD, DEM, FIISA, FICA, FNMIS, FIII, MIMarTech., MIMA., etc. He is also a faculty with many management institutes. (The views expressed are purely personal) |
