A major Ports and Maritime Technology Trade Mission from the US is touching base in India next month to get know more about the country's rapidly expanding port and maritime technology market and to pursue export opportunities there.

The four-day Indian sojourn starting from February 20, 2012 is organised by United States Department of Commerce (DOC), International Trade Administration (ITA), US and Foreign Commercial Service (CS).

The mission is expected to bring in representatives from leading US companies that provide state-of-the-art cargo handling equipment, port security and maritime technology equipment. Representatives from ports and maritime tech sub-sectors like refrigerated supply chain, warehousing, railways, and bridges would also be part and parcel of the mission.

The mission agenda includes one-on-one business appointments with pre-screened potential buyers, agents, distributors and joint venture partners, meetings with national and regional government officials, and networking events.

It is scheduled to visit three cities, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Mumbai. Trade delegates will also have the option to visit Kolkata, where they will interact with public sector port officials from the states of West Bengal and Orissa. 

A trade mission will offer an attractive entry for US ports and maritime tech firms and associations to India's complex market.

The US looks at India as a rapidly expanding ports and maritime technology market, with much government investment. For them, India, one of the world's fastest growing economies, presents lucrative opportunities for their companies that offer products and services in the maritime transport industry.

Foreign trade missions to the country are nothing new to India. In fact, their numbers are only seen increasing of late, thanks to the growing importance and profile of the country and its economy.

An appropriate approach and attitude from both sides is a must if something fruitful has to come out of trade mission, aver industry representatives in unison.

"When we set up office in India people were laughing. Now there are seven ports that have come after us. After all there are huge opportunities for all kind of services and facilities here in India," said Raj Khalid, India representative of Antwerp Port. 

"Don't come and try to preach us about how to do things. We have muddled through Independence; we have muddled through all these years. But eventually we will get there. If you have something specific, tell us. But don't tell us what to do, how to do it etc," is the general impression that many Indian officials have about most of the delegations that come by.

Foreigners tend to have an attitude of trying to preach India, agreed a Mumbai-based shipping consultant "Even though there is an element of preaching, theirs is a matured industry which grew over 200 years.  We need to think and understand their mind set and thinking of the foreign entities when they come here.

"Instead of constantly praising ourselves, we need to take a realistic outlook. The World Bank has ranked India at 137 on ease of doing business here. Everything here could be so frustrating," he said. 

"I am a technical person who thought I came here to do a technical job. But I am fed up because I was invariably neck-deep into politics almost every day," said an official of a foreign company engaged in a development project in Indian coast.

"Such missions are welcome and we should make maximum advantage of such foreign country interests," said a terminal operator from Mumbai. "At a time when our policies and programmes for ports and shipping fail to get even 10% -15% of the projected investments, such offerings should be seen as God-send. Ninety nine per cent of these delegations come because they feel that something has to be done. It is our responsibility then to take advantage of that. Whatever progress that we have made in this front would not have been possible without foreign entities. We need to understand our success would not have been possible with us alone."

"For that our government should make sure that all issues are sorted out, basic things are in place. It also calls for definite, time bound project clearances.

"If the govt is giving port for bidding, it should make sure that all issues are sorted out before hand before start of the bidding. For example, in two months after winning the bidding one can start working on a project, and in two years one can start the operations. These things are not guaranteed here. Take the case of Vallarpadam. Despite the promise of the government of allowing foreign lines to carry domestic cargo, the facility is unable to perform as per expectation for want of such a facilitative mechanism.

"A port project on offer may be of a state, but environment clearance should come from the central government. The road is a state subject while railway is a central organization. Getting into port project is not easy. I am not saying to make it easy but at least make it predicable. That is why almost everyone is engaged in running terminals inside the sheltered waters of major ports and why nobody has really got into an independent port project."

Delegations like the US pin their hopes on reports like the one from Ernst and Young which said that the majority of cargo-handling equipment at Indian ports was commissioned long ago and has outlived its life span. To meet the anticipated growth in traffic the major and minor ports have formulated plans for the development of new terminals, upgrading existing berths and modernizing operations by including state of the art cargo handling equipment, tracking systems, deepening of channels, and widening of roads.

"If it is the Indian reality, it is the duty of the facilitators to play the cards well before the delegates to attract investments," he concluded.

QUOTE
‘For that our government should make sure that all issues are sorted out, basic things are in place. It also calls for definite, time bound project clearances’