The Hindu Business Line : Congestion at JNPT

The bogey of congestion has already resulted in Jawaharlal Nehru Port's container traffic falling by more than 30 per cent in the first half of this year.

THE exact value of the goods stranded in container yards and freight stations in and around the Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNP), India's premier container port, at the height of the congestion, is still unknown.Some put it at over Rs 5000 crore. Even the port authorities admitted that the figure was high. Roads leading to the port were clogged for miles, and there were horror stories of how the local mafia played havoc with the hapless drivers.

What caused the congestion and what lessons can we learn from it?

The JNP started without much fanfare in 1989 and, at least in its first few years, was perceived as the stepsister to the thriving, bustling Mumbai port. Initial deficiencies in infrastructure saw shippers and liners hesitate to move to JNP. Much work was put in before the port finally outgrew its teething troubles. From being the second choice of users in the region, a port where they had to be dragged kicking and screaming, JNP worked its way up, and with its superior draft and modern equipment eventually overtook Mumbai as the port of choice on the Western region seaboard. In 1998-99, JNP for the first time handled more containers than the Mumbai port. There was no looking back after that. It hit the million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) mark in 2001-02 and handled 2.26 million TEUs in 2004-05.

Growing at close to 20 per cent year on year has put pressure on the port infrastructure. In 2003-04, volumes rose by more than 50 per cent. In normal course, growth in the current year should have been along the same lines, but the bogey of congestion has resulted in JNP's container traffic falling by more than 30 per cent in the first half of this year.

What can JNP do to prevent itself from becoming a victim of its own success?

Volumes of the order 2.26 million TEU is not unusually high for an established container port. World leaders such as Hong Kong and Singapore routinely handle in excess of 17 million TEU annually without problems of congestion. Even a new entrant like the Malaysian port of Panjung Telepas exceeded 2 million TEU in its third year. So handling a little above 2 million TEU should not really present major logistical problems for a 15 year old port.

JNP's inability to handle relatively small number of containers has to do with the nature of cargo it handles. Ports such as Singapore and Hong Kong receive considerable volumes of trans-shipment cargo meant for other destinations.

Typically, this cargo is offloaded from the mother vessel and awaits the arrival of a smaller vessel to proceed to its destination. The smaller vessel, therefore, proceeds in the opposite direction on a feeder vessel and waits for the mother vessel. JNP does not have this luxury, containers received in the port are almost always bound for or received for export from inland destinations.

Thus storing transshipment cargo in the port's yard till the connecting vessel arrives is not an option. Practically, all container traffic is either bound for or originates from the hinterland. Therefore, it must be moved in or out of the port.

The problem is compounded by pressure of passenger and goods traffic on the railway infrastructure in and around Mumbai. Suburban trains in Mumbai carry an estimated five million passengers a day. When cargo arrivals in JNP increase beyond a point, they compete for space with the rail traffic in Mumbai. Given that the passenger traffic is the priority, it is difficult to see how cargo can win space in the existing set up.

One obvious solution, which has been mooted by several commentators, is the dismantling of the oppressive monopoly of the Container Corporation of India (Concor).

There is no reason why the responsibility to move containers in and out of the port should rest with one body. If more agencies are allowed to perform this function there would be competition and, therefore, more efficiency, and more resources would be available to meet the needs of what is arguably one of the fastest growing segments of infrastructure in the country.

Other solutions to congestion include improving the roadways and, perhaps, expanding the buffer yard where containers that have completed export formalities can be diverted to.

The most important solution, however, is one to which adequate attention is yet to be paid. That of a road and rail network that simply can not cope with the increased business coming into the port.

Be it ICD (inlander container depot) traffic bound for up-country destinations or road cargo bound for nearby freight stations, the infrastructure is unable to handle the additional pressure. The obvious move is to use the sea-lanes that surround the port in such abundance.

The shallow berth at JNP should have been used exclusively for geared vessels that have a smaller draft. These vessels then could have been moved from there to feeder ports such as Mundada or Kandla in Gujarat. To transport cargo from there to destinations in Punjab, Rajasthan and the rest of North India would not have posed problems because road and rail links in these ports are not pressured. Though this involves movement to an extra port it is better than having the cargo stuck in JNP.

Such a policy will not only help move cargo swiftly out of the port but also given the much needed boost to coastal shipping. In ports such as Hong Kong, volumes of the order 3 million TEU move by barges every year. India, by contrast, hardly uses its vast coastline. We continue to use congested rail and road networks that we construct at immense cost, but ignore the bounty of national seaways that nature has bestowed on us.

When trade expands, we will not be able to make do from traditional modes of transport such as road and rail. The outlay required in terms of enhanced infrastructure will simply be too large. Policy makers must realise that a well-integrated system of short sea voyages is the only answer.

(The author is former Secretary, Ministry of Shipping.)

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