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The Indian Private Ports and Terminals Association will approach the Shipping Ministry seeking a relaxation of the controversial order fixing transhipment targets for ports.
IPPTA will convene a meeting in Mumbai on March 29 to chart out the course of action, as the Ministry’s March 7 order relaxing Cabotage restrictions but placing transhipment conditions has sent the port sector into a tizzy.
Terming the transhipment condition as ‘unrealistic’, an official of a leading container terminal told BusinessLine that the Ministry’s order neither made sense nor encouraged transhipment from Indian ports.
According to him, shipping networks normally work 10 years in advance to select a transhipment port and Cabotage waiver of one year for existing ports and two years for new facilities is hardly likely to draw them into long-term agreements.
There is also a further condition that to get this relaxation would be subject to the ports transhipping at least half of their total container volumes.
The need of the hour, he said, is to openthe shipping sector to compete with the Colombo Port, whichtranships 3.80 million TEUs, out of which 3.18 million boxes are from India.
“Although we welcome the thrust given to improve transhipment of cargo in Indian seaports, we are a bit anxious about the deadlines mentioned in the notification”, said CS Kartha, President, Cochin Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“We feel that the 50 per cent target is quite impractical under the present circumstances and the Ministry should revisit this clause at the earliest,” he said.
PM Mohammed Haneef, General Secretary, All India Port and Dock Workers Federation, described the Ministry’s order as “an unscientific approach without considering the realities in the port sector”. It will be counter-productive and will not benefit Exim trade.
If the Ministry is sincere about its efforts to improve container traffic, it should first revoke the Tariff Authority for Major Ports, which is a hurdle to the development of major ports, he added.
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