Report: India year-end box volume down 30%

Indian ports saw a 30 percent dip in container trade in the last three months of 2008 compared to the same period in 2007, according to a report in the Hindu Business Line Monday.

   Evidence of the slowdown can be seen in the yards of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port, where only about 2,000 containers are stored compared to the usual 5,000 to 6,000.

   Container train operators concentrating on export-import trade have cut down on their services,the report said. Some of them are running partially empty trains. The problem has been compounded by the fact that the importers in many ports are not taking delivery of the imports, with the result the imported containers are not getting cleared, causing pileups. Worse, the shipping lines are finding it hard to recover the demurrage from the importers. If the Port of Cochin is any example, Indian ports are indeed suffering. Container throughput has dropped from 25,037 TEUs in September to 24,034 TEUs in October, 17,499 in November and 16,400 in December. That's a 30 percent decline from the corresponding months in 2007. The port may fail to reach its 300,000-TEU target for the 2008-2009 fiscal year -- it handled 253,000 TEUs last year. The decline in Cochin is particularly troublesome since a new 1 million-TEU container terminal is due to open there later this year.

   Meanwhile, shipping lines have started downsizing their workforce and pruning unnecessary expenses, even as they pursue aggressive marketing, the report said. The fierce competition among the lines to grab business has led to a sharp drop in freight rates. (Customs brokers) too are not lagging behind. They are trying to cope with the challenges by being aggressive as well as by 'rationalizing' rates in tune with the market conditions, without caring too much for the margins.

Source:American Shipper