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The Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP), the rate regulator for Union government-owned major ports, has asked DP World-run India Gateway Terminal Pvt Ltd (IGTPL) to file a proposal before it to levy new charges on direct port delivery (DPD) and en-bloc movement of containers, a matter that has roiled the export-import (EXIM) trade in Cochin Port.
India Gateway Terminal, the entity that runs the International Container Transhipment Terminal (ICTT) at Vallarpadam in Cochin Port Trust, had issued a trade notice seeking to levy ₹800 for a 20-foot container and ₹1,200 for a 40-foot container.
Separate trade notice
The terminal operator had also issued a separate trade notice stating that if a container freight station (CFS) does not shift their nominated containers as en-bloc movement, then all containers being delivered to that CFS will be billed a CFS shifting charge of ₹800 for a 20-foot container and ₹1,200 for a 40-foot container.
Besides, if a CFS that has opted for best pick/ en-bloc delivery requires a container to be delivered on a non-best pick basis, then a shifting charge of ₹2,705 for a 20-foot container and ₹4,058 for a 40-foot container will be billed to the CFS for that container, DP World said in the trade notice.
“These charges are not in the line items of the scale of rates for IGTPL approved by TAMP,” said a source. “Hence, IGTPL has been asked to submit a proposal in this regard and get it approved by TAMP.” DP World’s move to levy the new charges has drawn flak with trade bodies calling for deferring their implementation in view of the pandemic and its debilitating effect on the industry.
‘Arrive at an amicable solution’
K Ellangovan, Industries Secretary to the Kerala government, alluded to the lack of approval from TAMP to the new charges, in a letter to M Beena, Chairperson, Cochin Port Trust. “It is learnt the charges now being levied is already included in the terminal handling charges billed through shipping lines, and therefore this charge is added rising the cost of trade exorbitantly,” he wrote in an October 5 letter.
“As I understand, the terminal handling charges at IGTPL/Cochin Port is quite high and is almost twice the rate as applicable in Tuticorin or Chennai. In the circumstances, all the exporters and importers using Cochin Port are finding it extremely hard to sustain their business,” Ellangovan wrote in the letter, seeking the intervention of the Port Trust Chairperson to “address the concerns of industry/trade at large and arrive at an amicable solution in the best interest of the EXIM trade”.
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