The Hindu Business Line : Rotterdam port to help improve performance

The Port of Rotterdam, one of the seven busiest container ports in the world, is likely to be drawn in to improve the performance of major ports of India.

The Indian Ports Association (IPA) has sent an offer letter to the Port of Rotterdam to coordinate the business plans of the major ports, according to official sources.

The coordination advisor is expected to ensure that the business plans of each of the major ports are complementary to each other. The country's 12 major ports are in the process of appointing consultants to draw up 20-year business plans for each port.

"We have sent the offer letter to the Port of Rotterdam. The decision would be finalised after they sign it," said a senior IPA official.

Earlier, the IPA had invited bids from several leading international ports for coordinating the business plan that would be developed by various consultants for each of the major ports.

The need to have a coordination advisor is important in order to ensure consistency between various plans being submitted for each of the major ports. "Since each port would appoint a different consultant, we have to ensure that the business plans developed for each of these ports do not end up in conflicting of interest the other," explained another official.

The advisory service would be on a fixed revenue model, said the official declining to divulge further details.

In 2005, 370 million tonnes of cargo passed through the Port of Rotterdam, five per cent more than in 2004 and a new record, according to statistics released by the port. The volume of cargo leaving the port grew faster than that of cargo coming in, with nine per cent and 3.5 per cent, respectively, with general cargo enjoying seven per cent growth and bulk cargo four per cent. In numbers, container movements increased by 12 per cent to 9.3 million TEUs (Twenty-foot equivalent units).