Railways struggles with empties

The movement of empty rakes, according to one estimate, accounts for nearly one-third of the rake movement of the Indian Railways. The reason: Mismatch of traffic in either directions. For example, the rakes carrying coal from eastern region to northern region or from Chhattisgarh to Gujarat come back as empties, and the distance is substantial. The movement of finished steel is generally one directional. Earlier, the empty movement was even larger. This was because foodgrains from Punjab and Haryana used to move to various States but the traffic was in one direction. The same was true about cement movement as there were three major cement producing clusters in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and the whole country depended on them. The situation has changed with the improvement in production of rice and wheat in States earlier known to be grain deficit. Similarly, cement production too is now more wide spread. On certain routes, there is enough cargo in both directions. For example, rakes carrying iron ore exports to ports are back loaded with imported coal.

India's moves on ports in the region

Reports have it that despite unsettling conditions in Iran and Pakistan, there are strategic moves by India and China to develop ports in the region. China is a few steps ahead of India in this regard because it has already built Gwadar port in Pakistan to open up energy and trade corridors from the Gulf, across Pakistan to western part of China through Karakoram Highway which is being expanded. India, on the other hand, is yet to have what it wants at Chabahar port in Iran. Chabahar is a functioning port with 2.5 million capacity, targeted to rise to 12 mt. But the progress of work leaves much to be desired. India wants the pace of work to pick up to have facilities in place to handle specialised cargoes, set up warehouses and make proper disembarkation arrangements and is ready to go the extra mile. It may be noted that the Indian engineers, braving military attacks, have built a 200-km-long road from Nimroz province in Afghanistan to Chabahar port, thus providing land-locked Afghanistan with an alternative supplies route and reducing dependence on road movement of goods through Pakistan.

Air cargo group takes shape

The four founding member associations of the newly formed (November 2010) Global Air Cargo Advisory Group (GACAG) have finalised and signed the basic principles of the group, giving top priorities to air cargo security and e-commerce. The International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) and the Global Shippers' Forum have also agreed to address the issues of customs and trade facilitation and sustainability of the global air cargo industry. The advisory group's role is to establish a vision and strategy for the global air cargo supply chain and to present joint industry positions to third parties, including inter-governmental organisations such as WCO and ICAO. Chairmanship of GACAG's new Steering Committee will rotate among the members on an annual basis, beginning with TIACA for 2011. TIACA will also serve as the Secretariat for GACAG.

Piracy: Inaction angers shippers

Singapore's Asian Shippers' Council (ASC) has withdrawn anti-pirate statement soon after it was released to media, says Shipping Gazette . In the statement, ASC had advocated surgical strikes using predator drones against Somali pirate villages and giving naval forces a free hand in dealing with the pirates they capture. “By killing a few monkeys, we may be able to teach the chickens and cripple the network,” was one of the conclusions of the document. Soon after the document was released to press and widely reported, ASC hastily retracted it and said it would like to recall the statement describing it a “draft requiring further refinement”. It is true that the shipping community is becoming increasingly impatient with the impotence of naval forces and growing unwillingness of governments to put captured pirates on trial, resulting in their release. According to reports, EU and NATO forces captured and released 700 pirates in the first six months of 2010.

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