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All major ports in the country will get the freedom to fix their own tariff once the proposed Port Regulatory Authority Bill becomes a law.
Currently major ports will have to send the tariff proposals to the Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMPs) for its approval.
TAMP will now be replaced by the Major Ports Regulatory Authority.
With this, the private port terminals operating at the major ports will also have the freedom to decide their own rates.
Guidelines
Of course, all ports will have to follow the general guidelines issued by the Regulator.
The private terminal operators at the major ports are currently at the mercy of TAMP which, they allege, follows rigid norms in approving their tariff proposals.
At the same time, their counterparts at the State-controlled ports currently, have the freedom to fix their own tariffs.
Unequal
For example, Mundra port in Gujarat is free to decide its tariffs while Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal at the Jawaharlal Nehru port has to seek TAMP's approval for any change in its charges, said a port official.
Some of the private ports under the States control are larger than some major ports in term of the volume of cargo handled by them.
The draft Port Regulatory Bill released by the Shipping Ministry on Wednesday stated that “a port authority may frame the scale of rates at which and a statement of condition under which any of the specified services shall be performed by it and /or for use of any property belonging to or in the possession or occupation of it.”
The scale of rates and statement of conditions framed by the port authorities will have to comply with the tariff guidelines issued by the ports regulator.
The Shipping Ministry has released a draft Port Regulatory Bill on Wednesday, proposing the setting up a Major Ports Regulatory Authority and State-level port regulators.
Exiting tariff norms
Currently, TAMP follows two sets of guidelines for fixing port tariff – one issued in 2005 and the other in 2008.
The validity of 2005 guidelines extended by a year in 2010, will expire on March 31.
According to sources, the Shipping Ministry proposes to modify these amendments.
The Ministry had convened meeting of port terminal operators last week for seeking their views.
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