Media
Media
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU (JN) Port in Navi Mumbai, India's largest container port, is reported to be "inundated," as 13,000 boxes pile up at the gateway waiting a week to moved inland by rail to container depots.
This results from a lack of trains being operated by Container Corp of India (Concor), an Indian Railways unit, to move them to depots like Tughlakabad in Delhi for deconsolidation, customs clearance and onward movement, reports Live Mint Wall Street Journal.
The report said delays were affecting manufacturing schedules and firms risk losses for missed deadlines while shipping lines were forced to pay high detention charges and ground rents. Between 65 and 70 per cent of the containers are destined for the Tughlakabad depot, India's busiest.
"We are feeling the heat," said V Sridharan, customs operations manager at Hewlett-Packard India Sales Pvt Ltd, an arm of the Indian unit of technology firm Hewlett-Packard Development Co.
According to the report, shipping company representatives claim to have offered to pay additional charges, "but Concor is neither ready to provide extra trains nor willing to move the containers to ICD at Dadri, close to Tughlakabad," it said.
"Concor is not willing to address this issue by projecting nearby ICDs to make Tughlakabad congestion-free, fearing loss of business," said a shipping company representative, speaking on condition of anonymity.
To clear the backlog Concor needs to deploy at least 125 additional trains, according to data from the Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI).
"ICD at Tughlakabad is running at full capacity. [But] shipping lines can bring cargo to other ICDs near Tughlakabad and Concor can bring as many trains to JNPT [Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust] for evacuating cargo," he said.
In fiscal 2010, India's port volumes increased 5.7 per cent over the previous year, while JN port's container throughput increased by 14.7 per cent, according to an April report by Infrastructure Development Finance Co Ltd.
Source: www.schednet.com
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