The Hindu Business Line : Commerce Ministry bid to ease congestion at Nhava Sheva

JAWAHARLAL Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) has allocated one of its ICD rail tracks to P&O Ports for loading its import boxes for a month till the pendency problem at Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal (NSICT) is sorted out.

The move follows a direction given by the Commerce Ministry to JNPT during a meeting held in Delhi on February 17 to discuss the issue following representations made by trade and industry, a Shipping Ministry official said.

JNPT has started implementing the Commerce Ministry's direction immediately and allocated its rail track No 6 to P&O Ports exclusively for back loading of its import boxes destined for Northern India. This means that after off-loading/discharging the export containers brought from North India on the rail track No 6 operated by JNPT, the train will load only the import boxes of NSICT on its return leg to the North.

"This will lead to faster turn around of rakes and help ease the congestion to a large extent," the official said.

"Currently, there is a pendency of 3,500 to 4,000 import boxes pending at NSICT, which increases with the arrival of fresh import containers. The pendency has to be reduced to 1,500 boxes so that normal operations can start. This will take 15-20 days," he pointed out.

Since the commencement of the terminal operation by NSICT from April 1999, joint ICD operation of NSICT/JNPT was started from the beginning in respect of trains discharging and loading containers. Both the terminals handle ICD containers (in-bound as well as out-bound) belonging to each other at their rail sidings when a train is placed.

JNPT currently has six rail tracks for ICD handling, out of which rail track Nos 1, 2, 6 and 8 are being handled by JNPT and rail track Nos 4 and 5 are being used by NSICT.

With CONCOR expressing its inability to place dedicated trains for the two parties, joint ICD operation at the rail yard is a regular feature involving rakes carrying mixed containers for both JNPT and NSICT.

The JN Port has just a few days back crossed the 2 million (20 lakh) TEU level, out of which 9 lakh TEUs was handled by the container terminal run by JN Port and 1.1 lakh TEUs was handled by NSICT, which is almost double its designed capacity of 6 lakh TEUs.

Earlier this month, the Board of Trustees of JNPT had deferred a proposal submitted by P&O Ports seeking 5 hectares of additional land outside the licensed area to store its ICD boxes as one of the ways to overcome the congestion at its container terminal.

The Board took the view that P&O Ports should first sort out its dispute with the port trust over payment of outstanding amount worth a few crores before the proposal for additional land submitted by the private operator could be considered.