The Hindu Business Line : Exporters worried over boxed-in JNPT

While the Commerce Ministry feels that congestion at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port could dent the country's exports, the Textiles Ministry is worried that export of textiles would be hit. The port authorities are implementing a slew of measures to ease the problem.

WITH CONGESTION at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port reaching alarming levels, the Shipping Ministry is facing pressure from its Commerce and Textiles counterparts to ease the problem quickly.

While the Commerce Ministry is concerned that the problem could dent India's export, the Textiles Ministry is worried that export of textiles would be affected.

In fact, the Union Minister for Textiles, Mr Shankarsinh Vaghela, during his recent visit to Mumbai, told a meeting of textile exporters that he would take up the issue with the Shipping Minister.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has also taken up the issue by constituting a Task Force, under the JNPT chairman, to come out with a report on ways to de-congest the port.

This was in pursuance of the decision taken at the meeting of the Standing Committee on Promotion of Exports in Mumbai recently.

According to a note from the Infrastructure Division of the Department of Commerce, the Task Force will both suggest measures to de-congest the port and recommend means to improve the turnaround time in the short to medium term.

The Task Force will be looking into the infrastructure inside the port, including warehousing, cargo handling equipment and movement of containers, and rail and road connectivity to the port as also the requirement of Container Freight Stations (CFSs) in the vicinity of the port.

The Task Force, which will have representatives of the Ministries of Shipping, Railways and Commerce, Concor, and the Western India Shippers Association, has been asked to submit its report by October 31.

According to sources, the present level of pendancy at the port has touched almost 18,000 boxes, a bulk of which is piled up at the P&O-operated Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal (NSICT).

"Even the car park has been used to accommodate containers, which have spilled over to the road outside the terminal," an informed source said.

The worst affected is the textile industry, especially as this is the peak season for textile exports in view of the approaching Christmas.

"No one knows when the export gate at the NSICT will open or close. We have already missed a string of shipments and we are now faced with the threat of our importers cancelling the orders," a leading textile exporter said.

"The congestion problem at the JNPT and the NSICT is turning out to be a nightmare for exporters. Especially, the textile exporters have been affected severely, as they have to adhere to strict delivery schedules. The textile sector, which accounts for more than 25 per cent of India's exports, is extremely tensed because of this situation," Mr Rakesh Mehra, chairman, Synthetic and Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council, pointed out.

The port authorities are, however, implementing a slew of measures to ease the problem.

Realising that the sudden spurt in import of heavy metal scrap (HMS) by Punjab traders as a result of heavy speculation in the market regarding its price was largely responsible for the build-up of congestion, the port had decided not to accept any import of containers containing HMS for 60 days from September 15.

In the beginning of August, when the pendancy at both the terminals was about 8,000 boxes, the Ludhiana-bound HMS containers accounted for more than 50 per cent of this.

However, the freeze on fresh imports of HMS has brought down the pendancy of Ludhiana-bound boxes.

At present, there are about 2,000 HMS boxes at the port, even while the overall pendancy has gone up to about 18,000, according to sources.

What has accentuated the problem is the piling of boxes meant for the nearby Container Freight Stations.

Another source said that "The CFS complain that they are not being able to receive fresh boxes from the port as they are overflowing with export containers, which are not getting space in the port. Thus, with both the CFSs and the terminals clogged, the containers remain where they are."

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