UNCTAD hails Indian ports' performance

New Delhi, Jan 7 (UNI) Notwithstanding the lack of proper infrastructure, Indian ports handled 42,66,910 20-foot equivalent unit (TEU) of container port traffic in 2004, posting an increase of nine per cent as compared to 39,16,814 TEU in 2003.

''This indicates improved port performance, institutional changes in ports and security and safety issues,'' a review report on Maritime Transport 2006 by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UNCTAD said.

In a chapter on 'Development of International Seaborne Trade', the UNCTAD report commends the economic performance of India and China as the countries recorded an output growth of 7.1 and 9.9 per cent respectively.

India is having a total fleet of 13,295 thousand dead weight tonnes (dwt) including 8,310 thousand dwt oil tankers, 3,969 thousand dwt bulk carriers, 288 thousand dwt general cargo and 141 thousand dwt container ships.

The report highlights the controversies between port authorities and global terminal operators which cropped up at different times in different countries.

Early in the year 2006, the Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP), which regulates major ports in India, ruled that revenues earned by private terminal operators be brought into line with revenues earned by similar state-operated facilities.

This affected one operator that five years ago had been authorised to charge tariffs 16 per cent higher that those of the state-run facility.

By mid-year, the Shipping Ministry had draft guidelines that would allow domestic companies to participate in tenders for container terminals and quote up to five per cent below the highest bid to match that bid.

The guidelines also defined an Indian entity as a company in which Indian residents have a majority shareholding and requested that winning bidders retain the shareholder pattern for the duration of the contract.

At the end of the year, two Chinese global operators were banned from bidding for a terminal in Mumbai for security reasons.

Enhancing the port performance, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNP) made plans for expansion after getting clearance from several administrative instances and offers from the Japan Bank of International Cooperation and Citibank.

The deepening and widening of the access channel to the port with estimated budget of 182 million dollars, a dedicated railway line to Delhi, an eight-lane highway to the hinterland and the 22.5 km Mumbai Trans Harbour sea bridge figure among JNP planned projects.

UNI