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Even as the Union minister for road transport, highways and shipping, Nitin Gadkari has announced that projects are set to come up around 1,800 acres under the Mumbai Port Trust along the eastern shore of Mumbai, Rafeeque Ahmed, President of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations has said that the slew of projects, under the Mumbai Port Trust, would spruce up the waterfront.
He added that the commissioning of the fourth terminal at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) would also streamline the movement of containerised traffic from the hinterland. The commissioning would raise capacity to over 11 million TEUs, and could handle more containerised cargo than the existing 55 percent primarily originating from or destined for Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka as well as most of North India.
Major exports from the JNPT being textiles, sporting goods, carpets, textile machinery, boneless meat, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, Ahmed said the main imports are chemicals, machinery, plastics, electrical machinery, vegetable oils, and aluminum and other non-ferrous metals. He added that it would also contribute to the pace of cargo contanerisation, which is about 20 per cent annually, as against over 70 per cent in the developed markets.
While the JNPT port is connected to three major highways - Mumbai-Pune, Mumbai-Goa and Mumbai-Agra - by 43 km of internal road network, the movement and evacuation of cargo continues to be a problem in peak season. The FIEO chief said there was a need for a second stage of dredging to enable larger vessels to make JNPT a port of call.
The implementation of the dedicated freight corridor is also anticipated to streamline 50 per cent of the cargo movement out of the port.
Given JNPT's long relationship with liners, it clearly stands to gain in the container trade, said Ahmed, and is bound to play a critical role in further development of trade in the continent. He added that JNPT also has the capacity to attract funds from overseas markets, given its zero debt balance sheet AAA rated bonds.
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