The Hindu Business Line : Govt calls meeting to solve congestion at JN Port terminal

THE Ministry of Commerce has convened a meeting of exporters, shipping lines and other port users and port officials on October 5 in New Delhi to find a solution to the growing congestion at the private container terminal (NSICT) of Jawaharlal Nehru (JN) Port.

According to port users, the NSICT terminal chock-a-block with large number of containers has been frequently closed for export cargo during the last three months.

Trailers with loaded containers often queue up at the terminal gate, upsetting exporters' shipment schedules.

The terminal has virtually been closed for export cargo for the past two weeks, said Mr Sharad Kumar Saraf, President of Confederation of Export Units.

Exporters, particularly of textiles, are worried that if the problem at the port is not resolved immediately, their consignments - meant for year-end and Christmas sales - may not reach the destinations in time.

Shippers have been seeking the Commerce Ministry's intervention to find a way out to ease the congestion.

While the private terminal blames the landlord port, JN Port, for not allotting additional space for parking containers, users and port officials allege that NSICT itself is mainly responsible for the problem.

"The crisis at NSIST is the result of lack of vision and planning on the part of port authorities," said Mr S.R.L. Narasimhan, Secretary, Western India Shippers Association.

"The terminal is handling much more volume of cargo than its installed capacity. The private terminal has been allowed to grow faster than the pace at which the growth is envisaged."

Exporters have called for a joint action by NSICT and JN Port to resolve the issue. As a temporary measure, they have suggested permission for inter-terminal transfer of containers.

The terminal currently has over 15,000 containers waiting to be removed.

Of these, nearly 10,000 are import containers that need to be removed immediately to ease the congestion. This is not possible without the co-operation of both the private and landlord ports, said an exporter.