The Hindu Business Line : Trade plea to get losses refunder at CCT

THE Shipping Ministry will shortly clarify whether its September 2002 policy directive to the Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP) to refrain from accepting individual representations from trade and users on tariff related issues would remain valid in the case of the troubled Chennai Container Terminal (CCT) run by P&O Ports.

To recover some of their losses running into several crores of rupees, the trade and users in Chennai had petitioned TAMP seeking to get their losses refunded by the private operator.

But, to their dismay, the tariff regulator has informed that it was helpless in this regard, quoting a September 2002 Ministry circular, which directed TAMP not to entertain representations made by individual parties from trade and users groups.

But, there is a ray of hope. For, the regulator has sought a fresh clarification from the Ministry on whether its 2002 directive remained valid given the problems at the Chennai container terminal. Without going into the depth and merits of the petition, which is termed as a "collective representation" by trade bodies and not an individual representation, TAMP has referred the issue to the Government for its response.

"The trade and users could not release the containers in time because of the fault of the private container terminal operator. Hence, the trade should not be made to suffer by bearing the storage and demurrage charges," TAMP is understood to have told the Ministry.

The trade has also sought Government intervention to tackle this issue in the privatisation framework for container terminal at major ports in the country.

"The question now is whether the foreign investors should be protected at the expense of Indian trade and users or whether the Indian trade and users should be protected at the expense of foreign investors or should there be a balance between the two," a trade source told Business Line.

Since wage negotiations are an internal matter of the private operator and the workers, the Government had washed its hands off saying that it had no role to play in this unsavoury episode.

The concession agreement signed between CCT (P&O Ports) and Chennai Port Trust does not offer any scope for Government intervention, but there is a case for incorporating such a clause in future deals without scaring away foreign investors, a senior Ministry official said.

"This means that we have to suffer in silence for 30 years (the period of the concession agreement signed between the two for the CCT). We should at least have support from TAMP. But, even this support is not there today," the trade source stated, adding that the Government should have some mechanism to step in and sort out the vexed labour problems confronting CCT in the larger interests of trade and users.

The Government says that a competing container handling facility at Chennai port can be thought of only after November 2004, when a three-year lock-in period prescribed by the Concession Agreement ends.

And, it may take about two years for a new container terminal to come up at the near-by Ennore port that can be positioned as an alternative for trade/users to deal with any eventualities arising at CCT in future.

But, this does not appear to mollify the trade, who says that the Government should re-open the Concession Agreement for CCT to protect their interests.