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New Mangalore Port on reform wave

M. K. Anil

AS THE winds of globalisation blow across the Karnataka coast, the burden of `development' has fallen on the New Mangalore Port -- the only major port in a State which, like the rest of the country, seems to have immense faith in the possibilities of export-led growth.

And, despite attempts to develop other minor ports along the coast, this port -- work on which commenced in 1962 and which was declared the ninth major port of the country on May 4, 1974, and formally inaugurated on January 11, 1975 -- continues to re main a metaphor for things to come, always at the centre of the developmental discourse surrounding the hinterland.

Considered to be the `Gateway of Karnataka', the New Mangalore Port is in the process of adding to its infrastructure in order to keep up with the demands and desires of the new economic regime. One POL jetty exclusively for handling cargo for the nine-m illion-tonnes-per-annum Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd and another multi-user jetty for handling liquid cargo are getting ready.

Other projects likely to be taken up are construction of new general cargo berths, coal jetties, container berths and procurement of cargo-handling equipment. According to port officials, once the Mangalore-Hassan broad-gauge link is ready, the port will be in a position to handle more cargo from the hinterland. And, of course, keeping in tune with the changing economic scenario in the backdrop of the plans to corporatise ports, the New Mangalore Port also plans to welcome more private participation.

The port claims to have several unique features:

JIt is said to be congestion-free with a single-window clearance and simplified documentation system;

*It has facilities for the direct delivery of cargo from/to the hook point;

*There is no shortage of gangs;

*It has round-the-clock pilotage;

*Container freight stations are close to the port;

*Draft of up to 14 metres to handle liquid bulk cargo and 13 metres for iron ore vessels; and

*Mechanical handling facilities for managing bulk cement.

It is also considered a safe port to handle POL, LPG, chemicals and other hazardous cargo.

After an interruption of a few years, port officials say container services at the port have remained uninterrupted ever since they were reintroduced a year ago. Maersk Lines commenced container services through the New Mangalore Port from November 2000, an event which is said to have given container traffic a boost. There is now regular movement of containerised cargo such as coffee, brake drums, cashew, leaf springs, and reefer cargo in the port. Efforts are also on to attract more containerised traff ic through the port.

The port is constantly trying to achieve better `operational efficiency' through `effective supervision and monitoring'. This, according to the port, has resulted in considerable improvement in areas such as pre-berthing delays, turnaround time, berthday output, average output per gang per shift and other such performance indicators. The operational efficiency achieved due to the `semi-mechanisation' of cargo-handling is said to have reduced not only the cost of handling, but also other indirect overhea d costs.

As an indication of its `potential', the port registered a record traffic throughput of 17.89 million tonnes during 2000-2001 against 17.60 million tonnes the previous year. The year also witnessed a substantial increase in the handling of crude and prod ucts for Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd; fertilisers, LPG, cement and containerised commodities. This was despite a 1.2-million-tonne shortfall in the export of iron ore/pellets since Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd was not operational for two months due to a leakage in its pipelines.

When the port was opened to commercial traffic on June 10, 1974, it started with a throughput of less than one lakh tonnes every year. Over the past 25 years, it has `grown'. The New Mangalore Port now says it has all the potential to face the growing ti de of the globalised era. With the winds of globalisation slowly but surely blowing across the Karnataka coast -- unhinging the old and ushering in the new -- the city of Mangalore, which boasts of an old and a new port, is waiting to play its role in the logic of the new global regime.