The Hindu Business Line : Indian ports to handle 20 m TEUs in 10 years

Indian ports would start handling 20 million twenty feet equivalent units (TEUs) of containers within a 10-year time frame from the current level of 4.6 million TEUs, according to experts at the shipping summit organised by CII Institute of Logistics.

They also pointed out that several issues such as like faster implementation of port projects, faster evacuation of goods from the ports, maintenance of port infrastructure and equipment, and container security in the hinterland need to be addressed.

Faster evacuation

To have faster evacuation at the ports, more rail and road links need to be built around ports on the public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

"PPP model with participation by ports and related stakeholders should be used for rail and road capacity development," said Prof G. Raghuram, IIM - Ahmedabad, adding that integration of coastal and inland water transport for evacuation needs proactive consideration. "The JN port may be clogged but why can't the sea link be used to move containers from JN port to the nearby ports of Mundra and Pipavav?

Similarly, use of inland water transport for containers in Kolkata and Kochi is also possible," said Mr M.P. Pinto, former Shipping Secretary.

Faster bidding process

The industry also unanimously called for the need to have faster decision-making in the bidding process. They cited examples of Chennai port, Tuticorin port and Mumbai port where the bidding process for container terminals has taken several months.

Higher use of IT

The use of electronic data interchange has not taken off in the manner in which it should have, said Mr S.S. Rangnekar, Director, Shipping Corporation of India.

Re-training customs officials to make them more customer friendly is another issue of concern. While the department has become customer friendly at the higher level, it needs to percolate down the hierarchy, said officials.

Lack of data on cargo movement cutting across different modes of transportation is a big problem, said Mr Niraj Ambani, Senior Vice-President, Reliance Logistics Ltd, adding that the security of cargo, particularly in the hinterland, is another major concern. Mr B. Sridhar, Member, Advisory Board, CII Institute of Logistics, said that they would prepare a white paper based on various deliberations in the two-day seminar and send it to the Planning Commission, the Ministry of Commerce and the Department of Shipping.