‘Separate’ licences for stevedoring, shore handling

The Federation of Association of Stevedores has urged the Shipping Ministry to issue separate licences for stevedoring (handling loading and discharging of vessels and terminal activities) and shore handling.

A committee that examined the Regulation of Stevedores and Shore Handling Agents in Major Ports recently said that stevedoring and shore handling of vessels in major ports ought to be carried out by a single agency as far as possible. The committee also recommended that the Tariff Authority of Major Ports (TAMP) notify cargo handling rates for stevedores and shore handling agencies in each major port.

According to the Federation’s President KV Krishna Kumar, a combined licence will work in the case of bulk cargo but may not be practical for break bulk cargo and containers, as even now vessels come on liner terms and the stevedore and shore handling agents may be different.

The federation also said TAMP will not be able to do justice if it were to fix rates for stevedores and shore handling agencies, as there are too many variables involved.

For instance, in the case of stevedoring, depending on the situation, rates may vary with ship cranes, shore grabs or shore cranes. The rates for equipment at each port are fixed by associations and not by TAMP, Krishna Kumar said.

The Ministry had formed the committee in June 2013, headed by its Development Advisor, to make changes in the stevedoring policy that was framed in 2009. It went through various aspects connected with stevedoring and discussed the issues with various stakeholders, including traffic managers at major ports. The committee’s formation was in the background of major ports losing market share to non major ports in the last few years — from 91 per cent in 1994-95 down to 57 per cent in 2013-14.

The non major ports that come under the control of State Governments have one agency to look after work of landing/loading of ships and shore handling of cargo. This gives a more focussed approach to market the ports. Such coordination and synergy has been achieved in private-public-partnership (PPP) berths in major ports where the terminal operator gets to do end-to-end handling, landing/loading and delivery/receipt of cargo for the ships.

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