Corporatisation will turn tide for ports INDIA CAN WIN HUGE CARGO TRAFFIC WITH BETTER EFFICIENCY

& FUNCTIONING VIJAY KURUP Freelance maritime writer

THEGOVERNMENT HAS DECLARED THE port at Port Blair in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands as a major port with effect from 1 June,2010,subject to the provisions of the Major Port Trusts Act,1963.At present,the port does not have any major commercial activity,but according to the ministry of shipping,the strategic location of these islands is potentially suitable for establishing major maritime infrastructure projects to service large volumes of cargo and large vessel volumes for the ports of the neighbouring Asean countries. The port is strategically located on the international shipping route.Coming under the purview of the Major Port Trust Act would give it independence and greater autonomy in the development of the port,according to Rakesh Srivastava,joint secretary,ports,ministry of shipping.A feasibility study is being conducted by Water and Power Consultancy Services (India) (WAPCOS),a government undertaking,for the possibility of a transshipment port at South Bay near Indira Point.He said apart from the trans-shipment hub,bunkering and shipbuilding are also being considered. The WAPCOS feasibility study was in progress,according to MV Radha Krishnan,development advisor,WAPCOS.The plan would be to develop the port in stages.In the initial stage the port will have the capacity to cater to 8,000-9,000 teu capacity vessels.In the second stage the capacity would be increased to 10,000 teu vessels.The final stage would cater to 12,000 teu capacity vessels.A meeting with the stake holders is planned in July to drum up interest in the the project. With this,the number of trans-shipment ports planned for south India itself would be four Colachel in Tamil Nadu,Vizhinjam and ICTT Vallarpadam in Kerala and Port Blair as the fourth.These ports are fighting for existence with highly corporatised international trans-shipment ports in this region such as Singapore,Tanjung Pelepas in Malaysia,Gwangyang in China,Hong Kong,Kaohsiung in Taiwan,Busan in South Korea,Port Klang in Malaysia,Colombo in Sri Lanka,Salalah in Oman and Jebel Ali in UAE. The demand projections are very challenging.The Regional Shipping and Port Development Container Traffic Forecast 2007 update estimates that the worlds total trans-shipment volume of containers will increase from around 85 million teu in 2005 to 184 million teu in 2015 at an average growth rate of 7.6% per annum.At that time,the share of trans-shipment in total port volume is expected to be approximately 23.1% of the total volumes handled in the worlds ports.The total number of full containers shipped internationally is expected to grow to 235.7 million teu by 2015,up from 113.6 million teu in 2005 (the base year for the cargo forecasts).The compound growth rate during the period 2005-2015 is 7.6% per annum,decreasing from 9% per annum in the period 1980 to 2005. The report notes that the trade routes within Asia now dominate global container trade,with a share of over 28% (2004).The runners-up are trade on the Trans-Pacific route (just under 16%) as well as the routes between Europe and the Far East (over 12%). Asia is also dominant in trans-shipment traffic with six ports posting the highest volumes of transshipment located here.Singapore is,by a big margin,the largest hub.Over 80% of the containers handled here are in the trans-shipment category;this high proportion is clearly due to the relatively small home market.Ports in the Near- and Middle East are playing an ever more important role in trans-shipment traffic. In the Indian ports sector,276 projects were identified to be taken up under National Maritime Development Programme (NMDP) for implementation between April 1,2005 and March 31,2012,involving

an investment of Rs 55,804 crore at 2004-05 prices.The thrust wisely is on public private partnership.There are several issues where India needs to catch up with the rest of the world to improve upon the turn-around time of vessels,reduce the pre-berthing waiting time and increase the average output per ship berth-day.Thus far the performance of India Ports have not been very favourable,compared with ports in the Far East and Middle East.They all point to one basic flaw the lack of corporatisation and autonomy to the ports segment from political intervention. The volume of cargo is there for taking the rider being that the efficient and cost effective ports will sail away with the lions share.Will India be able to wean away volumes from the already established players in this highly capital-intensive and very competitive field Just increasing the number of trans-shipment hubs is not enough.The need of the hour is to bring them to international qualities of efficiency and functioning.